


What They Don't Know

by TwistedRocketPower



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Angst, Eventual Romance, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-11-05 04:36:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 31,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11006127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwistedRocketPower/pseuds/TwistedRocketPower
Summary: Phil shouldn't have done it. He realizes that now. But, he felt pressured and he didn't know what else to say so it just slipped out. And now he and Dan were going to be spending three weeks with his family. His family who, because of Phil's nervousness and inability to think properly, all thought Dan and Phil were engaged.





	1. Awkward

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy!

Phil knew he made a mistake before he hung up the phone. He knew he should call back and clarify- well, redact- the conversation he just had with his mum. He also knew he wasn’t going to do that.

His mum was just so happy when he told her and he couldn’t break her heart now. His whole family probably knew ten seconds after he hung up the phone, seeing how excited she was. He was slightly confused by her squeal of “I knew it!” but he didn’t have time to worry about that now.

He had to worry about Dan. Tell Dan. Convincing Dan. Making sure he’s not murdered by Dan.

“I’m back!” Dan yelled, bringing Phil out of his thoughts.

The sound of the door to the flat slamming shut made Phil jump off of his bed and hurry to meet Dan in the kitchen.

He had to do this now.

Dan set two bags on the counter and began emptying one. “I had a terrible time, Phil!” Dan exclaimed the second he saw Phil’s face. “People suck! It was too crowded, a dog tried to attack me, and I’m pretty sure a man growled at me for picking up a carton of eggs!”

Phil’s news could wait.

“Sounds like one of my stories,” he responded.

“Yes, well, I’m never going back,” Dan said, shoving a carton of milk into the fridge.

“Why don’t I put up the eggs?” Phil suggested, already picking up the eggs and gently putting them away.

“My day could not get worse, Phil, and all you care about are the fucking eggs?” Dan asked, resting his hand on the countertop and staring at Phil judgmentally.

“That’s not true!” Phil exclaimed. “I care about your day… and the eggs.”

Dan rolled his eyes, then turned back to the bags. “Whatever. I just want to put the rest of this away and take an hour long shower.”

“Why don’t you just go take the shower and I’ll put everything away?” Phil suggested.

Dan slowly turned back to him. “What’s wrong? You never offer to put the groceries away.”

“Hey, I always help!”

“No, you  _ sometimes _ help but you never offer to do it all.”

“Well, then you should appreciate me doing it this once and leave before I change my mind.”

"Hm," Dan responded. He gave Phil one last suspicious glance before leaving.

 

Phil was going to throw up. He was actually going to vomit. It had been three hours since he spoke to his mum and he hadn’t been able to tell Dan yet.

But now Dan was on the sofa, just scrolling through tumblr, and had seemingly calmed down from his shopping trip. This would be the perfect time.

“Hey!” Phil said, immediately realizing he seemed a bit too giddy.

“Hey,” Dan replied, giving him an odd look. “Whatcha doing, Philly?”

“Oh, nothing,” Phil replied, putting his hands on his hips.

Dan nodded. “So, you just stand in the middle of the living room for fun now?”

“Oh. No.” Phil dropped his arms back down and sat on the opposite end of the couch. 

Dan went back to his scrolling, but stopped when he realized Phil was just staring at the wall.

“For fuck’s sake, Phil, what’s wrong?” Dan asked, closing his laptop forcefully.

Phil took a deep breath and looked over at Dan. “I talked to my mum today.”

Dan nodded. “Alright. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine.”

“So why are you acting like a weirdo?”

“I’m no-” He stopped and took another deep breath. “We’re planning a trip next month to Florida. Two or three weeks.”

“That’ll be fun,” Dan replied. He felt a little sad that his best friend would be gone for so long. But above that, he felt nervous for the two or three weeks he’d have to sleep in the flat alone.

“Yeah. Yeah, it will. I just…” Phil looked down at his jeans, fiddling with a crease. “Isaidyou’dcome,” He mumbled.

“Didn’t get that last bit, Phil.”

Phil looked back up at Dan. “I said that you’d come too.”

“Oh.” Dan’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why?”

Phil shrugged. “My mum said Cornelia was coming with Martyn and that I should bring someone and she just kept saying it so I said you would come.”

“Oh,” Dan repeated. He was silent for a moment, then shrugged. “Well, I don’t have anything else to do. Why not?”

“You’re not upset?”

“Upset about a holiday in Florida? No. Especially since you’re paying for my ticket.”

“Hey! I-”

“It wasn’t I who decided to come on this trip,” Dan reminded him. “The least you could do is pay my way, Philip Lester.”

Phil sighed. “Fine.”

Dan went to open his laptop back up, but stopped, “Are you sure they won’t mind me tagging along?”

Phil shook his head. “No, they love you.”

Dan smiled. “Of course they do.”

Phil rolled his eyes and stood up to leave the room.

“Wait, is that why you’ve been acting weird? Just cause you said I’d go on a trip without asking first?”

And that’s when Phil remembered that he hadn’t told Dan the most important part. He knew he should sit back down and do that now.

“Uh, yeah, that’s it. Just didn’t want you to think you had to come.”

Dan laughed. “Okay, weirdo.”

Phil smiled, trying to look like he wasn’t about to vomit again, as he left the room.

 

Phil knew he had plenty of time to come clean. The vacation was five weeks away. That gave him plenty of time to tell Dan the truth.

All he needed to do was figure out how to tell him. 

He thought about all the ways it could go wrong. Dan getting upset, refusing to go, not talking to Phil, and possibly leaving. 

Dan yelling and cursing and calling his mum and telling the truth.

Dan laughing at him just for the idea that this lie could possibly be passed off as true.

There was no positive outlook from letting Dan know. 

But he had no choice.

Five weeks.

He could think of something by then.

 

He didn’t.

Five weeks passed and every time Phil had gathered up enough courage to start to tell Dan, he’d say something else instead.

_ “I just have to say that… I really want to play Mario Kart.” _

_ “I acci- accidentally dropped your toothbrush in the toilet.” _

_ “When I was talking to my mum I told her… I missed her lasagna. So she’s going to make that one night.” _

 

“Phil, why do you keep starting sentences so dramatically? Every time you do that I think someone’s dead or dying and it freaks me out.”

“Sorry,” Phil replied, scratching his head. “I think I might be worried about travelling or something.”

“Since when? We travelled non-stop last year and you were fine.”

“I just… I guess I just miss my family. Can’t wait to see them,” He said, smiling over at Dan.

“I’m sure they can’t wait to see you too. We leave tomorrow morning though, so go get packed.”

Phil left Dan’s room and went to his own, swinging the door shut behind him. He looked down at his suitcase, but couldn’t find the energy to pack. He fell back onto his bed instead, staring up at the ceiling. He would tell him in the morning.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, please find your seats and fasten your seatbelts. We will begin landing shortly.”

Phil took a deep breath. He had to do this now. He had waited until the very last minute. His parents had arrived in Florida the day before and would be waiting for them at the airport. 

He had had five weeks- and a nine hour flight- to come clean. But he had waited until now.

Ten minutes before they’d be seeing his parents.

“Dan?”

Dan, who had been looking out the window, turned to look at Phil, “Yeah?” 

“I have to tell you something.”

“Okay.” Dan was curious, and slightly worried. “What?”

“I didn’t just tell my mum you were coming on holiday with us.”

Dan twisted in his seat so he could look at Phil easier. “I’m confused.”

“This is hard to explain,” Phil replied, looking at the seat in front of him.

Dan poked at Phil’s leg. “Well, look at me and explain it, you prune.”

“You know… Well, you don’t cause I’ve never told you... But my mum is always saying that I need to find someone, just like in passing or whatever, nothing pushy. It gets annoying though and I-”

“Phil, we are literally about to land. I’d like to know what’s happening before we do.”

“I told my mom we’re together,” He rushed out, closing his eyes tightly.

He was met with silence. Second after second of silence. He felt like he could hear a clock ticking, but it might’ve been his heart beating in his ears.

He slowly opened his eyes to see Dan staring back at him, his mouth hanging open slightly.

“Dan? Dan, are yo-”

“You what?!” Dan exclaimed suddenly. It caused them to get a few looks from the people around them. 

“Dan, please don’t yell at me on the plane,” Phil begged.

Dan took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. Phil could see his cheeks were becoming very red; he looked like he might explode.

“You what?” He asked again, slightly calmer this time.

“I told them you were my boyfriend. No,” He quickly added, “That’s not true. I said we were engaged.”

“Engaged?!” Dan noticed the glances this time and slumped down in his chair a bit. “Engaged? Phil! What the hell?” He said, whispering this time.

“I know! I’m terrible! I didn’t know what else to do though! She asked if I had found anyone, and she asks that every time, and I couldn’t tell her  _ again  _ that I hadn’t really been looking. So, I said we’ve actually been together for eight years and got engaged recently.”

“Oh my God, Phil.”

“I’m sorry!”

“You should have told me before now, Phil. I have like two fucking minutes to prepare myself for the most awkward moment of my life.”

“It won’t be awkward!”

Dan’s eyes widened. “Phil! Your parents think we are _dating_! They think we’ve been dating for eight years, and for some reason hid it from them for that long!”

Phil shook his head. “I told my mum we both wanted to make sure no one found out so we kept it secret.”

Dan looked out the window, trying to digest all of this new information.

“Why engaged?” He asked, looking back at Phil. “Why not just boyfriends?”

“She got really happy when I said we were together, so it just kind of slipped out.”

“That’s quite a hole you dug yourself, Philly.”

“I know,” Phil replied, biting his lip. “It’ll just be for three weeks though. Then everything will be back like it was before.”

“Phil, your parents will still think we’re together. What do we do about that after the three weeks?”

“I’ll worry about that then.” Phil paused. “Wait, are you saying you’ll actually go along with it?”

“I’m not going to be the one to break their hearts!”

“Thank you!” Phil said, patting Dan’s arm. “Thank you, thank you!”

“Yeah, yeah. You owe me a lot more than a plane ticket for this.”

“Anything!” Phil replied, relaxing back into his seat.

Dan tried to relax, but he couldn’t help his heart thumping harshly in his chest. He was nervous. So, so nervous. He was going to have to pretend to be Phil’s boyfriend for three weeks, and he wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about it.


	2. Dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously, I don't know exactly how Phil's family acts, therefore they can't be as realistic as I can (try to) write Dan and Phil. I hope I do them justice though!

**Day One**

 

Dan might actually throw up. He doesn’t know why he’s so nervous… Okay, maybe that’s not completely true. He knows exactly why he’s nervous. He was about to see Phil’s parents, who both think he and Phil are engaged. 

Phil’s parents are wonderful people, Dan knew that, but that didn’t help his situation right now. They would be fine with the fact that he and Phil were together. They wouldn’t care who Phil was with, as long as he was happy.

Which is what made it all worse. Dan was about to lie to these wonderful, kind people for three weeks.

“I see them!” Phil exclaimed, waving excitedly. Dan blinked rapidly for a moment, bringing himself out of his thoughts.

As Phil picked up his pace, Dan trailed slightly behind. He had never wished to be a turtle so much in his life. He wanted to hide in a shell and not come out until all the potential dangers were removed from the world.

“Hi, Mum! Hi, Dad!” Phil greeted, giving them each a hug.

“Hello,” they both responded, smiling from ear to ear at the sight of their son.

“It’s so good to see you, Darling,” Kathryn said, patting Phil’s cheek. 

“It’s good to see you too, Mum.”

Kathryn looked past Phil to see Dan, who was awkwardly swaying from side to side behind Phil.

“Come here, you!” She said, going around Phil to give Dan a hug.

He leaned down and returned the hug, allowing himself to smile through his extreme anxiety.

“Hello, Mrs. Lester.” When she was finished hugging him, he got a handshake from Nigel. “Hello, Mr. Lester.”

“Oh, none of that,” Nigel said, patting Dan’s shoulder. “Kathryn and Nigel is just fine.”

“Of course it is,” Kathryn agreed. She then leaned closer to Dan, whispering. “Mum and Dad is fine too!”

Dan blushed, his eyes going wide. Even though Kathryn had whispered, Nigel had still been able to hear her. “Now, Kath, let’s not scare the boy too much just yet.” He said, walking over to her and putting his arm around her. “The vacation is just beginning.”

 

It was almost two o’clock when they got to their holiday home. Both Dan and Phil were more than ready to get inside, shower, and change. 

“Martyn and Cornelia will be here tomorrow, right?” Phil asked as they headed upstairs.

“Yes, they should get in around noon,” Nigel replied.

Kathryn lead them down the hall, past two other bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small den, until they reached the last door at the end of the hallway.

“This will be your room,” She said, opening the door. “It’s got a bathroom of its own, which is lovely.”

“It’s very nice,” Phil replied, looking around. This house was brand new to them. While they always rented a place when they came on holiday, they had never stayed here before.

The room was a nice size. It fit a queen size bed, two bedside tables, and a dresser with a fake houseplant on either side.

There was also a walk-in closet, and a door to the right that led to a bathroom.

Phil set his suitcase to the side, but Dan continued to hold onto his.

“Where should I put my things?” He asked, looking back and forth between the three Lesters.

Both Nigel and Kathryn gave him an odd look, but Phil quickly took over before they could respond.

“He’s so used to covering for us,” he said, looking over to Dan with wide eyes. “You’ll be staying in here too, Dan.”

“Oh!” Dan replied, remembering the incredibly ridiculous situation he was in. “Of course. This room is lovely.”

Kathryn smiled. “We’ll let you two get settled for a bit. Come down stairs when you feel like it and we’ll pick a place for dinner, alright?”

Both Dan and Phil nodded. 

“Alright, Mum.”

Nigel left out of the room but Kathryn remained for a moment. “You don’t have to worry here, Dear,” she said to Dan. “No one will say a thing to anybody. We’re all just happy that you’ve made Philip so happy for eight years.”

Dan smiled, trying to force himself to not blush. “That’s very kind. Thank you.”

“Let them be, Darling!” Nigel called from downstairs.

“Oh, I will!” Kathryn yelled back, rolling her eyes. She reached over and patted Dan’s cheek before leaving the room.

Dan walked over to the door and swung it shut, letting his smile turn into a glare as he looked at Phil.

“What?” Phil asked innocently.

“ _ What? _ What do you think  _ what?  _ Phil! Your parents are so excited! Don’t you feel the least bit guilty about this?”

“Of course I feel guilty, Dan,” Phil replied. He walked over to his suitcase, picking it up and putting it on the bed. “However, I would feel even more guilty if I told them the truth right now and broke their hearts!”

“They think I’ve made you a happy man for eight years, Phil!” Dan exclaimed in a whispered tone.

“Well, I mean, technically that’s not a lie,” he replied with a shrug. “We’re both happy living with each other. We wouldn’t have been living together for six years if we hated it.”

Dan sat down on the bed, rubbing his tired eyes with his hands. “Not the point, Phil.”

It was quiet for a moment, then Dan felt the bed dip beside him. He looked over to see Phil sitting there, looking at him. “You’re thinking about this too much,” Phil said, patting Dan’s back. “We won’t have to act any differently. They know how we feel about PDA. It’ll be fine.”

Dan took a deep breath. “Yeah, yeah. I guess you’re right. It’ll be fine.”

Phil nodded, giving Dan one last pat before standing up. “I call shower first!” He yelled, running for the bathroom door.

Dan fell back onto the bed, closing his eyes. Maybe if he wished hard enough, he could be transported back to his flat in London.

It didn’t work.

 

It was almost five o’clock when they left for dinner, deciding to eat early since none of them had a proper lunch.

The restaurant is fairly empty, making it easy to talk to one another.

Most of the dinner runs smoothly. The topic of Dan and Phil being together wasn’t brought up once throughout the entire meal. Dan had started to become so comfortable that he almost forgot about it… until he was reminded.

“Will this be one check or two?” The waitress asked.

“One, please,” Nigel answered quickly.

The waitress nodded and walked off.

“Dad, let me pay,” Phil said. “It’ll be my treat for our first night.”

“No, no,” Nigel replied, shaking his head. “This is a congratulatory meal. It’s on us.”

“Well, let me pay for mine at least,” Dan said.

“No,” Kathryn replied. “This is a congratulatory meal for the both of you. We wanted to do this for your engagement,” she said, whispering the last word even though no one would have been able to hear it anyway.

The waitress returned and set the check down. “I’ll be back in a moment,” She said before heading off again.

“Well, thank you so much,” Phil said. “You really don’t have to do that though.”

“Yeah, we really don’t mind-”

“Hush, now,” Kathryn said, shaking her head. “Just accept our gift and move on.”

Dan smiled at her softly. “Thank you,” he said, looking over at Nigel as well.

Nigel nodded back, silently acknowledging Dan’s thanks.

 

After dinner, they walked around Celebration and got some ice cream, then headed back to the house to get ready for bed. It had been a long day, and by nine o’clock, everyone was ready to settle down.

“This is weird,” Dan said, lying in bed next to Phil.

“Dan, we’ve shared a bed before,” Phil reminded him.

“I know that, you idiot. However, your parents think we do more than sleep in it now.”

“Dan!” Phil scolded. “They aren’t thinking about that, thank you very much.”

“They think we fuck, Phil.” Dan’s eyes went wide, “Oh my God!”

“Would you stop being weird?!” Phil asked, turning his head to look at Dan. “You’re overthinking everything.”

“And you’re not thinking enough,” Dan replied, turning his head to look back at Phil.

“I’ve told you before, it’s not that big of a deal. You’re just crabby and need sleep.”

“I am  _ not  _ crabby,” Dan said with a glare, feeling very crabby.

“You’re always crabby after long flights and now you’re extra crabby.”

Dan sighed, turning onto his side so his back was facing Phil. He jerked the covers over toward him more.

“Hey!” Phil exclaimed, jerking them back.

“You’re a cover hog,” Dan mumbled.

Phil turned so he was facing away from Dan. “Yeah, well… Your mum’s a cover hog,” he retorted weakly.

They were both silent for a moment, then Dan began to laugh. A few seconds later, Phil joined in.

“That was the lamest comeback, Phil.”

“Your mum’s a lame co- No, I’m going to stop now.”

They laughed a bit more, then Phil turned to lay on his back again. “You’re not angry with me, are you?” He asked, becoming serious. “I mean, over all of this?”

Dan turned back onto his back. “No. I mean, it’s kinda fucked up, but I’m not mad. It’ll be fine. I’m just…”

“Crabby?” Phil suggested.

Dan rolled his eyes. “Bitch,” he said, no anger in his voice.

Phil smiled. “Goodnight, Dan.”

“G’Night, Phil.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! Leave a comment to let me know what you think.  
> Tumblr: softgolftechniques


	3. Proposal

**Day Two**

 

Dan and Phil didn’t wake up until it was almost noon. 

When they finally got out of bed, there was a note under the door informing them that Phil’s parents had gone to pick up Martyn and Cornelia.

“Wow, what a terrible brother you are,” Dan joked as they headed downstairs. “Didn’t even go to meet your brother and his girlfriend at the airport. Tsk, tsk.”

“Oh, shut up,” Phil replied, going straight to the kitchen.

The coffee pot was ready to go, and Kathryn had left danishes on the counter for them to eat.

“Your mum is the best,” Dan said, picking up one of the danishes.

Phil did a little hum in agreement as he fixed Dan and his coffee.

 

They both sat on the couch, quietly eating danishes and drinking coffee as they scrolled through Twitter and tumblr.

Soon enough, their rented car was pulling back into the driveway.

“They’re here!” Phil exclaimed, standing up quickly and heading for the door.

“Yes, I hear that,” Dan replied. 

Dan followed behind Phil, who had rushed outside to see his brother and Cornelia.

“Hi!” Phil said happily, giving them both a hug.

“Hey!” They both replied.

“So you couldn’t even wake up to see your brother at the airport?” Martyn said, shaking his head.

“That’s what I told him,” Dan agreed. “Terrible brother.”

Cornelia laughed as she walked over to Dan. “Good to see you, Dan,” she said, wrapping him up in a hug.

For someone so small, she gave big, warm hugs.

“Good to see you too.”

A quick hug from Martyn came next, helping Dan remember that this family was very close and touchy and he should’ve been used to that by now.

“So, you and Phil?” Martyn said, putting his arm around Dan’s shoulder. “Eight years together and no one knew?”

“Not out here,” Kathryn warned, looking around.

“Mum, I highly doubt someone is spying on us right here. No one even knows where they are.”

“Still,” She said, shuffling them all inside with her hands. “Let’s go. It’s bloody hot out here.”

 

Twenty minutes later everyone had settled into the living room.

“So, come on, tell us!” Martyn said, staring over at Dan and Phil who, funnily enough, were sitting beside each other on the loveseat.

“Tell you what?” Phil asked.

“Everything!”

“I want to know how you proposed,” Cornelia said.

“Oh, well, you know, it wasn’t-”

“No, no, no,” Kathryn interrupted. “We’ve been out of the loop for far too long. You must fill us in now that we’re all here.”

Dan wished he could disappear in that moment.

“Why don’t you tell them Dan?”

Dan jumped at the sound of his name. The sound of his name coming from Phil’s mouth. Phil actually having  _ him  _ tell the story that was made up by Phil in the first place.

“Oh… Oh, but I don’t know what they already know,” he said, both smiling at Phil and shooting daggers at him with his eyes at the same time.

“Philip didn’t tell us any details,” Kathryn said. “And I’ve been dying to know.”

“Yeah, don’t be shy, Dan,” Phil said, and God why was he making this worse?

Dan took a deep breath. Okay, Phil wanted him to tell the story? He’d tell it.

“Well,” Dan began, sitting up a bit straighter. “I had no idea it was coming. We’ve both been so busy lately that the last thing I expected was a proposal. But, as we know, Philly here likes to surprise,” He said, reaching over and pinching Phil’s cheek a bit roughly.

Phil laughed along, gently batting his arm away.

“Anyway, I had been having my doubts lately. I thought, I dunno, maybe he was leaving me.”

Both Kathryn and Cornelia gasped, and Dan nodded. “I know. He’d been a bit more distant than usual.” Dan didn’t dare look at Phil, who he knew had to be wide eyed and extremely confused.

“I thought, maybe he’s tired of the relationship. Maybe he’s moving on. I mean, he was leaving the house without telling me where he was going, he was a bit more bitey than usual, and he didn’t snuggle the way he used to-”

“Okay, okay,” Phil interrupted. “That- That’s not totally true,” he said, reached for Dan’s hand and patting it. He made it look like a loving gesture, but Dan knew better.

Dan gave him a cheeky smile. “Would you like to continue, Philly?”

Phil took a deep breath. “Well, I had been distant because I was trying to plan this amazing proposal. It was going to be huge. You know, balloons, a cake, maybe lifesize cutouts of our favorite anime characters. A bit ridiculous, but it’s Dan, you know.”

Dan made a mental note of that jab.

“And every time I would say I needed to go out for a bit, he’d be there. You know, ‘Where are you going?’ ‘How long are you going to be?’ ‘Why can’t I come?’ and I’m trying my best to keep this secret but it’s getting more difficult with every question, so-”

“Okay, I didn’t ask  _ that  _ many questions,” Dan interrupted. “But, I did ask a few. Wouldn’t you if your significant other of eight years was starting to act differently that he ever had before?” He looked around the room for support, and found all four people nodding their heads.

“See, Phil? I was doing what anyone would do. Anyway, I’ll continue. This goes on for weeks. I  _ guess _ it’s weeks of him planning this proposal, but at that time I’m not sure. Suddenly, one night, I just can’t take it anymore. I ask him, point blank-”

“He was crying,” Phil interrupted.

“I was not!”

Phil reached for Dan’s hand again, holding it this time. “It’s alright, Danny, they won’t judge you.”

“He’s right,” Kathryn agreed. “We won’t.”

Dan sighed, squeezing Phil’s hand a bit too tight. “Maybe I got a bit choked up. But, I thought he was cheating on me, okay? I thought the almost decade of my life with him was just being washed away by some whor-”

“It wasn’t though, obviously,” Phil interrupted, managing to pry his hand away from Dan’s squeeze.

“No, it wasn’t. I was there, in the middle of our living room, yelling and screaming-”

“And crying,” Phil added.

“And he drops down on one knee,” Dan continued, ignoring Phil. “And he starts gently weeping, begging me to not leave him. I mean, the emotions coming from Phil were like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

“But not really-”

“He could barely get the words out-”

“You understood.”

“Only cause I know you so well.” Dan reached over and squeezed Phil’s leg, “Let me finish the story, Philly. Anyway, he finally manages to ask me to marry him, spilling out all his secrets, and I’m just so excited I don’t know what to do-”

“But you said yes, and that’s it!” Phil finished, throwing up his hands as though he were cheering.

Kathryn shook her head, holding a hand to her chest. “I never would have imagined that’s how it would go.”

“It’s like a book or a movie!” Cornelia added, her eyes wide.

“I’ve always told you you need to get to the point faster,” Nigel said, pointing a finger at Phil.

Martyn shook his head, staring hard at Phil. “Almost hard to believe.”

Dan nodded. “Yes, well, we both learned our lessons. Now, we’re better than ever.”

 

“What the hell was that?” Phil asked. It was nearing dinner time and everyone was in their rooms getting dressed. It was the first time he and Dan had been alone since the proposal story.

Dan shrugged, “That's what happens when you force me to come up with some a fake story for the fake proposal that you fake gave to me!”

“You didn’t have to be so dramatic. That story sounded insane.”

“Seems like they bought it to me.”

Phil rolled his eyes. “Just because they believe everything you say.”

Dan smiled, scrunching his nose up, “I’m the good soon-to-be son.” 

Phil groaned and grabbed up his clothes to go into the bathroom and change.

 

**Day Three**

 

Today was a day for resting. They had seventeen days left to go out and about and enjoy whatever Florida had to offer, but today was not one of those days.

Nigel was inside, fixing everyone some sandwiches for lunch while the rest of the gang was out by the pool.

Kathryn watched as her kids- because they were all basically her kids- played around in the pool.

“Let’s play Chicken Fight!” Martyn suggested, already bending down a bit so Cornelia could get on his shoulders.

“What?! We can’t do that! That wouldn’t be fair!” Phil exclaimed.

“You afraid to knock me down?” Cornelia asked.

“No! I’m afraid of you knocking _me_ down!” Phil replied with a laugh.

“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun!” Martyn replied. “Hurry though, she’s getting heavy.”

Cornelia took her hand and swatted at Martyn’s head. “Hey!”

“Kidding!” 

Phil sighed. “Okay, fine, bend down, Dan.”

“What? Why me? You bend down!”

“No, you’re taller.”

“You’re older!”

“Exactly. My brittle bones couldn’t handle the weight.”

Dan splashed Phil with the water, making him laugh hard as he wiped at his face.

“You’re an ass,” Dan said, bending down so Phil could get on his shoulders.

Kathryn smiled and laughed as they played. She was so glad that she had playful kids. She always hoped that no matter how old they got, they’d never lose their youth.

She was happy to have been granted her wish.

In under twenty seconds, Cornelia had successfully knocked Phil into the pool, declaring victory.

She absolutely loved Cornelia and Martyn as a couple. But, she had been watching them grow as a couple for years, so she couldn’t help but focus on Dan and Phil.

It wasn’t exactly surprising to her that they were together. When your son meets someone and eight years later they’re still living together- and he’s never mentioned having a significant other- you kind of just put two and two together.

But, actually confirming it, it just made her heart fill with pride and joy. 

She had seen how happy Phil was around Dan for eight years now. How his smile was a bit bigger and brighter when Dan was there. How they had inside jokes that no one else would understand, and they sat as close as they possibly could to one another.

She could see how Dan lights up around Phil as well. Like right now, they were both taking turns filming each other underwater. Every time they would come up, Dan would be laughing at some face Phil had made. His smile would be so big, Kathryn could swear it would heal nations. Dan’s laugh was louder with Phil than it was with anyone else too.

They looked at each other like they forgot the rest of the world existed when they were together. 

“What are you smiling about?” Nigel asked as he carried out a plate full of sandwiches.

Kathryn shook her head. “Just good to see them all so happy.”

Nigel nodded, sitting down beside her. “Yes it is, Dear.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the sweet comments! We'll get to the good stuff in just a bit! Hey, we've got 17 days to go!
> 
> I'm also writing another story. It's called Love You For Always, so you can go and check that out if you'd like.
> 
> Tumblr: softgolftechniques


	4. Disney

**Day Four**

 

Now that everyone had had a few days to rest, it was time for some fun.

Having fun meant getting up early.

Getting up early for Dan and Phil was always a chore.

They hit the snooze button three times before Kathryn was banging on the door. “If you’re not up in five minutes, I’m coming in!”

Dan groaned, keeping his eyes closed as he turned over. He laid like that for a bit, cozy and warm underneath the cool sheets and soft quilt that topped their bed. He snuggled closer to the middle of the bed, realizing there was extra warmth there. Must’ve been a pillow, or maybe the sheets on the other side of the bed had bunched up. Dan didn’t care, he just wanted closer to it.

Half asleep, he draped his arm around the pillow only to realize that it was not, in fact, a pillow. 

He touched this suspicious item a couple of times before blinking his eyes open and seeing that it was Phil.

Of course it was Phil.

Because he and Phil were sharing a bed.

Somehow he had forgotten that.

He went to remove his arm, but a still-sleeping Phil scooted closer to him. He seemed to enjoy the extra warmth as well.

Dan stared at him for a moment, not even sure why. Phil just looked so peaceful. He always had a peacefulness about him, but when he slept it was just… different. 

“I’m going in!” Dan heard Martyn yell from right outside the door. 

Dan didn’t even have a chance to back away from Phil, or even move his arm, before Martyn was barging into the room.

“Okay! Time to ge-” he froze when he saw just how close Dan and Phil were. “Oh, sorry!”

Dan quickly pushed himself up so he was no longer lying down as Phil began to open his eyes.

“Come on!” Martyn resumed, clapping his hands together. “It’s Disney day! Wake up! Wake up!”

Just as fast as he entered the room, he left it, slamming the door behind him.

 

Twenty minutes later, Dan and Phil were walking downstairs. They were fully dressed, but they both still felt half asleep. 

“Good morning!” The family greeted in unison as the boys entered the kitchen. They were all extra smiley today. It was apparent that they had been awake for quite a while.

“Good morning,” Dan replied with a brief smile.

Phil simply gave a half-hearted wave in return.

“We’re looking over the map of the Magic Kingdom,” Kathryn said from her spot at the breakfast bar. She, Cornelia, and Martyn were all sitting down, while Nigel stood behind them.

“Making an itinerary?” Dan asked.

“Trying to,” Nigel replied. “God knows we won’t stick to it though.”

“Coffee?” Phil asked Dan, already getting two cups out of the cupboard.

“Yes, please. Toast or cereal?”

“Toast.”

Martyn watched as Phil poured their coffee and Dan fixed them both a couple of slices of toast.

The coffee pot and toaster were right beside each other, and it could have been a moment filled with “excuse me” or “I need to be there” but they seemed to move around each other seamlessly.

Phil went to the fridge as Dan went to the pantry. Phil gathered the cream and butter in his hands, while Dan got out the sugar and a new container of jam.

They switched butter and sugar, then Dan headed for the silverware drawer. He got out two knives and a spoon, then walked back over to Phil. He silently handed the spoon to Phil, who nodded a thank you.

Dan walked over to another cupboard and got out two plates, then gathered the toast up and fixed all four slices. He fixed one slice with butter, and the other with both butter and jam. That was Phil’s favorite and, sure enough, Dan had fixed Phil’s first.

Martyn continued to watch as Dan finished fixing his own toast, Phil standing beside him with two cups of coffee.

When Dan was done, they switched a coffee cup for a plate of toast, then made their way over to the breakfast table.

It was like a dance. A perfectly choreographed dance that Martyn had never seen before. Not even his parents were able to work that perfectly together when they were both in the kitchen, and they’d been together for over forty years.

Maybe he was wrong about the suspicions he had before, he wasn’t sure. 

But he was sure of one thing: if their relationship was fake, it shouldn’t be.

 

Surprisingly, Disney wasn’t crowded, allowing for fairly easy access to rides and shows. 

Besides a couple of fan encounters, the entire group was able to spend most of the day unbothered.

It was nearing four o’clock, and everyone was taking a bit of a break. Dan and Kathryn had gone to use the restroom, Cornelia and Nigel went searching for ice cream bars, and Phil and Martyn sat down on a bench to relax.

“Mum’s going to kill us with her itinerary,” Phil said, leaning his head back against a wall.

Martyn laughed. “We’re all going to need a holiday after this holiday to recover.”

Phil hummed in agreement.

Martyn cleared his throat. “Sorry for this morning, by the way.”

Phil lifted his head back up to stare at Martyn. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, you and Dan were, you know,  _ cozy,  _ and I kind of barged in.”

Phil was even more confused now. “I was asleep when you came in.”

Martyn shrugged, “I don’t know what you’re into!”

Phil pushed Martyn’s shoulder as Martyn laughed. “You’re such a weirdo.”

“I’m just saying! I guess you two are fiance’s though, so an innocent morning snuggle isn’t too odd.” Martyn was searching Phil’s face for answers, but nothing certain could be determined.

Phil nodded. “Yeah, can we stop talking about snuggling habits now?”

Thankfully for Phil, Martyn didn’t have a chance to respond before Dan and Kathryn returned.

 

They were all on Dumbo, taking one more ride before they walked over to the castle to get ready for the fireworks.

As the ride began, Phil started to lift them up as high as they could go.

“Let’s take a photo,” Dan said, getting his phone out of his pocket. He lifted it up and took a quick picture of him and Phil. He smiled widely, while Phil made a worried face with wide eyes.

“I’ll post that tomorrow,” Dan said, putting his phone away.

Phil was quiet for a moment. “Were you cuddling me this morning?” He found the courage to ask.

Dan’s heart pounded in his chest, but he didn’t let on. “Oh, I thought you were a pillow. You’re very squishy, Phil,” he said, trying to make the whole thing a joke.

Phil nodded. “Oh.” He looked around at their view, knowing soon the ride would be ending and they’d be back with the rest of his family. “I think my brother is suspicious. We need to act more couply.”

“What?” Dan asked, more confused than ever. “What does that even mean, Phil?”

Phil shrugged. “I don’t know! Just, don’t act so distant. A pat on the back every once in awhile or something.”

“Oh, yeah, cause nothing says ‘I’m sexually attracted to you’ like a nice pat on the back.”

Phil sighed. “Dan, you know what I mean. Just, try, please. I need this to work out for right now.”

Dan took a deep breath. “Fine,” he said as the ride began to end. “But you better get me something good after all of this shit. I’m talking mega-gift. A gift like you’ve never gifted before.”

“Don’t worry, Dan,” Phil replied as they stepped out of the elephant. “You will be rewarded for  _ all _ this effort I’m making you put into a task.”

Dan smiled, “You’re too good to me, Philly,” he said as they caught up with the rest of the group, making sure he was loud enough for them to hear.

Phil rolled his eyes but smiled. Dan could be irritating at times, but he was always there for Phil no matter what. He was doing something right now that not many friends would do for one another, and Phil couldn’t be more grateful.

He looked over at Dan, who was now having a cheerful conversation with Cornelia and Martyn, and all of his previous worries seemed to fade away.

He could pretend to be with Dan for sixteen more days. Everything would be just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and for all the sweet comments! Next chapter will get even better!
> 
> Tumblr: softgolftechniques


	5. Golf

**Day Five**

 

The fifth day of vacation was for mini golf. Since mini golf didn’t require them to be awake and ready the moment it opened- like Disney World- the whole family was able to sleep in a bit later and wake up as they pleased.

This, of course, meant Dan and Phil didn’t wake up until it was almost noon.

Eventually everyone did get ready to go, and they headed to the course.

 

“Okay, we’re going to play as teams,” Nigel said as he wrote everyone’s name down on the scorecard.

“Why are we doing that?” Phil whined.

“Hey, why are  _ you _ whining about playing as a team?” Dan asked.

“Because you’re no good at golf.”

“Me?” Dan questioned with wide eyes. “Last time we played, you weren’t so good yourself. If anyone should complain, it should be me.”

“But, no one is going to complain,” Kathryn said, butting into the argument. “Right, boys?”

They both looked down at the ground, ashamed. “Right.”

“Good.”

“Alright,” Nigel continued. “Playing as teams, each group's score will be combined at the end. Whoever has the lowest combined score, wins.”

“What do we win?” Martyn asked.

“The couple with the highest score will buy ice cream for the others,” Nigel replied.

Martyn lifted his hand to give Cornelia a high five, “Alright!”

 

They were at the thirteenth hole, and Phil was most definitely taking his time. There was no one else visiting the course right now, making Phil feel at ease to go as slow as possible.

“Oh, for God’s sake, Phil! Just do it!” Dan whined, leaning against a wooden post. 

“I’m concentrating! We need to get three hole in ones to beat Mum and Dad.”

“We’re not going to win, Phil. We’re buying the ice cream. Give it up.”

“Shush! Let me concentrate. I can do this!”

Dan rolled his eyes and sighed. “Whatever you say,” he said as Phil pulled his club back, “Hon.”

The nickname caught Phil off guard, causing him to hit the ball far too hard. It slammed into a side wall and rolled back to Phil.

“That was… interesting,” Cornelia said, scratching her head.

“Are you alright, Dear?” Kathryn asked.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” he said, looking back at his family. “Just a wind gust or something, I guess.”

“I didn’t feel a thing,” Dan replied, and Phil wished he could smack the cheeky smile off his face.

“Well, I did. Now,  _ everybody _ quiet. Let me concentrate and try again.”

 

The seventeenth hole was in a cave with a waterfall flowing over it. It was a perfect opportunity for photos, and everyone took it.

First, Nigel and Kathryn got their photo taken, standing side by side with their arms around each other. 

As they took their turn on the course, Phil took Martyn and Cornelia’s picture. One with them standing as Nigel and Kathryn had, then one of them sharing a quick kiss.

“Okay, your turn,” Martyn said, holding his hand out for Phil’s phone.

Phil and Dan stood by the waterfall. They both opted to make a silly face, with their arms stretched out. It was something they could come up with a caption for later and post online.

“Okay, now one just for you guys,” Martyn said after he took the picture.

They moved closer together and put their arms around each other. This was nothing new. They took pictures like this all the time. They both liked having pictures that were just for them.

But, as Martyn snapped the picture, Phil leaned over and kissed Dan’s cheek.

Dan immediately began to blush as Martyn handed Phil his phone back.

“What the hell?” Dan asked as Martyn and Cornelia went to take their turns.

“That was for calling me ‘Hon’ and ruining our chances of winning.”

Dan sighed, shaking his head. So that’s how they were going to do things. Just keep trying to one up each other… He could manage that.

“Alright, Philly. Just remember, you’re playing with fire.”

“That’s the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” Phil replied, trying to keep himself composed. On the inside though, Dan’s words made his heart beat a little bit faster.

 

That night was movie night. Nigel picked the first movie, choosing Guardians of the Galaxy. 

They were all getting situated on the couches, with Martyn and Cornelia on the loveseat, while Dan and Phil were on one side of the couch and Nigel and Kathryn were on the other.

Martyn brought over three blankets, one for each couple to share.

Phil opened up the blanket and laid it over both his and Dan’s lap. Sharing blankets was nothing new for them, so neither of them felt awkward about it.

“Is anyone hungry?” Kathryn asked, prepared to hand out the snacks beside her.

“I’m still full from the ice cream Dan and Phil had to buy us,” Cornelia replied, smiling over at the boys.

“Hey, we would have won if Dan hadn’t kept distracting me.”

“Oh please!” Dan replied, rolling his eyes. “We never stood a chance.”

“I still think Martyn cheated,” Kathryn said.

“Mum!” Martyn exclaimed. “I did not cheat! I earned those hole-in-ones!”

“No one should get three of those during one game,” Dan noted, folding his arms.

“I am shocked by the lack of respect,” Martyn said dramatically, holding a hand over his heart. “You believe me, don’t you, Cornelia?”

Cornelia smiled, taking his hand. “I got free ice cream from it all, so I don’t care if you cheated.”

“I didn’t cheat!”

“Okay, let’s hush now,” Nigel interrupted. “I’m starting the movie.”

 

Halfway through the movie, Phil found himself glancing around the room. Martyn and Cornelia were snuggled close, with Cornelia’s arm hooked around Martyn’s. His mum and dad were close too, holding hands.

This could be one of his chances to fluster Dan. If they were taking proper turns, it would be Dan’s turn next… But this was not about being fair.

Phil scooted a bit closer to Dan and took one of his hands out from under the blanket. He reached over and put his hand on top of Dan’s, lightly gripping it.

From his peripheral vision, he could see Dan’s eyes lower to their hands, then quickly turn back to the TV.

After a couple of seconds, Dan began to move his hand. Phil’s heart began to race. Dan was going to let go. This was too much for him.

He was surprised when Dan simply turned his hand over so they could hold hands easier. Dan intertwined their fingers and continued on watching the movie as if nothing happened.

Phil let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding and turned his attention back to the movie, hoping his hands weren’t sweating enough for Dan to notice.

 

Dan was slightly surprised when Phil had reached over and taken his hand. It made his heart skip a beat. He knew what this was about though. Phil was trying to beat him at his own game.

He couldn’t let that happen.

So, he had turned his hand around so they could hold onto each other a bit easier. And now, he and Phil were just casually holding hands.

This was weird.

Or, at least, it should be weird.

Dan found it oddly comforting though. It was kind of like having an anchor so you don’t drift away into the sea. 

Dan often felt he was drifting out to the sea, so it was nice to have this. 

And maybe that’s a weird thing to be thinking about during a movie. Maybe it’s weird to wish your best friend would hold your hand more often, but that’s what Dan found himself doing.

It’s safe to say he wouldn’t be able to tell you what happened during the movie after that.

 

There was only about twenty minutes left of the movie when Dan felt his eyes begin to close. He and Phil were still holding hands and, apparently, that made him super relaxed.

It also could have been the fact he spent half the day outside, in the heat, playing mini golf. But, the hand holding was kind of a final straw.

He tried to keep his eyes open by blinking over and over, but eventually that didn’t help anymore. Soon enough, his eyes were closing and his head was falling over onto Phil’s shoulder.

Phil hadn’t noticed that Dan was dozing until he felt a head fall over onto his shoulder.

He looked over to see that Dan had quickly fallen asleep on him and was now breathing softly onto his neck.

Phil couldn’t help but smile. Dan looked so peaceful and young when he slept. 

Phil tried to remove his hand from Dan’s, figuring Dan might want to be free for a while. However, Dan only gripped onto him tighter.

Phil didn’t mind. He had enjoyed holding Dan’s hand. Although he would never admit it, he was already happy about the fact that they’d probably have to do it again throughout the next couple of weeks.

 

“Do you want to wake him?” Kathryn asked quietly as everyone got ready to go to bed.

Phil shook his head. “No, we’ll stay down here for a bit. He’s really tired.”

Kathryn nodded. She leaned down and gave them each a kiss on the head.

“Goodnight, Dear.”

“Goodnight, Mum.”

Phil leaned back a bit in the reclining couch, making it so he and Dan weren’t sitting up. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to be, but Phil had no desire to move.

He liked the fact that Dan found a comfortable spot to sleep on him so, if Dan didn’t wake up, he’d be willing to stay there all night.

And that’s what they did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Let me know with a comment! Thank you!
> 
> tumblr: softgolftechniques


	6. Yahtzee

**Day Six**

 

Dan had woken up early that morning to a bright light shining in his face. He blinked a few times to help his vision adjust, lifting his head from the slightly lumpy pillow it had been laying on. When he looked around, he realized that he was not in his bedroom. He was in the living room. And the bright light was the sun shining through the window above the front door. And that lumpy pillow was not a pillow at all, but Phil.

He and Phil were snuggled up under a blanket, where Dan had apparently slept on him the entire night.

Dan slowly inched his way out from under the covers and headed upstairs.

After using the restroom, he laid down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. He was a bit confused about how he had ended up spending the night on the couch with Phil. Based on the fact he could only remember watching half of a movie last night, he figured he must’ve fallen asleep sometime during it. 

But, why didn’t Phil just wake him up? Why did they stay on the couch?

Curling up under the covers, and pushing away the fact that he felt much colder without someone beside him, Dan figured these were questions he’d never have the courage to get the answers to. 

He fell into a slightly-less peaceful sleep a few minutes later.

 

The family was going to spend today resting and recovering from their day of Disney and day of mini golf. 

It was noon when Cornelia and Martyn decided to go out to the pool. Nigel and Kathryn went to pick up a few things from the store, leaving Dan and Phil to do whatever they wanted.

“Why don’t we walk some of the trails around here?” Phil asked Dan, who was planted on the couch with his computer open on his lap.

“You want to go hiking?” Dan asked with raised eyebrows.

“It’s not hiking. It’s just little trails. Did you make our video public?”

Dan nodded. "Yeah, a bit ago."

Phil closed Dan’s laptop, earning him a small growl.  “Come on,” He beckoned, moving the laptop from Dan’s lap and pulling on his arm. “Come on. You know you want to. It’ll be fun.”

After getting tired of Phil pulling his arm, Dan stood up. “Fine. But, if something tries to eat us, I’m pushing you toward it.”

 

“Take my picture by this tree,” Phil said, handing Dan his phone.

“You want your picture taken by a palm tree?” Dan questioned judgingly.

“Yeah! I’ll post it on Twitter and tell people how I’m embracing Florida life.”

“You know palm trees exist elsewhere, right?” 

Phil put his hands on his hips. “Just take the photo, Dan,” he huffed.

“Alright, alright.”

Dan held up Phil’s phone as Phil returned to his giddy self. He had his head raised up toward the palm leaves and his arms stretched out. He smiled, with his nose scrunched up, making Dan laugh.

“Alright, I got your prize winning photo,” Dan said. 

Phil walked over to him and took his phone back. “Thank you. Do you want me to take your picture?”

“No, I’ll wait until we see an alligator and jump on its back to let the world know I’m more Florida than you.”

Phil pushed Dan’s shoulder as he laughed. “Shut up. You’re such a jerk.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

 

They walked along the path silently for a while. They were alone most of the way, but did run into one family whose son was a fan of Dan and Phil.

After the boy got a photo with them, the family continued in the opposite direction, and they were alone again.

“There’s some bird up there,” Dan mentioned, looking up high in an oak tree.

“Pretty,” Phil replied, only glancing at them.

“And some squirrels over there.”

Phil let out a sigh. “Nice.”

Dan knew something had to be on Phil’s mind. And it had to be something that hadn’t been on his mind long. He was fine just a bit ago. The silence must’ve given him too much time to think.

“And the aliens in that corner really are going to town on the dead body.”

“Sure are,” he replied absentmindedly.

“Alright, Lester, come on,” Dan said, holding onto Phil’s shoulder and leading him to a bench.

“What are you doing?!”

“We’re going to sit and you’re going to tell me why the fuck you don’t care about an alien going to town on a dead body.”

“What?!” Phil exclaimed, clearly shocked by what Dan had said.

“Nevermind, you dildo, just speak up. What’s on your mind, Philly?”

“Oh, uh, I guess just…” His voice trailed off as he scratched at his head. “I just was thinking maybe- maybe we shouldn’t keep trying to outdo each other with the whole fake dating thing.”

Dan stared at him for a moment. “Are you kidding?” 

“Um, no?”

Dan laughed. “No way are you getting out of this, Philip Lester! You’ve had two turns in a row!”

“But how far would we even be able to take it?” Phil asked, staring out at the scenery around them. “I don’t want to do anything that might upset you,” he added, looking back at Dan. “I was worried last night.”

Dan sighed. “Phil, if I didn’t want to hold your hand, I would’ve let go,” he replied. He didn’t mean for it to sound so… intimate. “You’re my best friend, Phil. It would take a lot for me to truly be uncomfortable. I mean, I’ve seen you naked like three times-”

“Because you don’t knock!”

“And you’ve seen me naked too-”

“Because you don’t know how to lock your door.”

“So, buck up, pal!” Dan said, patting Phil’s leg before standing up. “You’re not getting out of this one!”

Phil leaned his head back and sighed before getting up and continuing down the path with Dan.

 

“Oh my God, I do not need another full house!” Martyn exclaimed. Everyone was gathered around the table for a game of Yahtzee, and some people were having more fun than others.

“Use it for your fours,” Cornelia suggested.

“I want more than eight points on my fours.”

“Then you’ll have to put a zero somewhere,” Nigel reminded him.

Martyn sighed grumpily, then mumbled, “I’ll use it for my fours.”

“Okay, my turn,” Phil said, collecting the dice and putting them into the cup.

He shook the cup hard before tossing the dice onto the table.

“Did you shake hard enough?” Martyn asked. “You almost made my eardrums burst.”

“It wasn’t that hard!” Phil defended, collecting the dice he didn’t need to shake again.

“What? I can’t hear you! I’m half deaf now!”

Phil glared over at him, shaking the dice harder on purpose this time.

Suddenly, a hand was on Phil’s back. It was gently rubbing up and down. “Don’t let him bother you,” Dan said, because it was his hand. His hand was rubbing Phil’s back in an incredibly loving, caring way. “He’s just upset that he’s not able to cheat at this game like he does mini golf.”

“I did not-”

“Let it go,” Cornelia interrupted, patting Martyn’s shoulder.

Dan continued to rub Phil’s back throughout his turn. It was just a small rub now, his hand staying near the middle of Phil’s back, but it still made Phil blush.

When his turn was over, Kathryn took the dice. Phil expected Dan to move his hand now, but he didn’t.

He stopped rubbing, but his hand stayed, resting on his lower back. It was almost like he forgot it was there.

It made Phil’s heart race a bit. He’d never admit it, but at that moment he hoped Dan would forget what he was doing for a while longer.

Unfortunately, after Kathryn’s turn, it was Dan’s. Dan removed his hand from Phil’s back and Phil felt a bit colder for the rest of the game.

 

They finished playing games around midnight and all headed up for bed.

“I didn’t know playing board games could be so exhausting,” Dan said, rubbing his eyes.

“I think it’s more the fact that you’ve been outside for like four days in a row. It’s too much fresh air.”

“I need to hibernate for a while or I’ll have to change my branding,” Dan joked, curling up under the covers.

“Again,” Phil added.

“True.” 

They became silent after that. Phil laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Dan was turned on his side, facing away from Phil.

Only a few minutes had passed when Dan’s breathing evened out and Phil knew he was asleep.

Phil couldn’t fall asleep though. He was tired, but his mind was also going a bit crazy.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him. Every time he had tried to do something to make Dan blush, it would make him blush just as hard. 

He would surprise himself with the lack of awkwardness he felt in those situations. 

And when Dan had his hand on Phil’s back- it didn’t feel weird. It felt… right. 

Phil rubbed his eyes. Exhaustion. That had to be it. Maybe the outdoors really was bad for you. Maybe it was making him crazy. He wasn’t sure. All he knew is this game made him both extremely nervous, and impatiently waiting for the next move.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Dan turning over in his sleep. He scooted closer to Phil, causing his heart to pick up speed.

Within a couple of seconds, Dan was pressed close to Phil’s side. He carelessly draped an arm around Phil’s waist and snuggled into Phil’s chest.

_ He must think I’m a pillow _ , Phil thought with wide eyes. He was scared to move. He wasn’t sure if he should wake Dan up or just let him sleep.

It may be a little awkward if he woke up Dan right now, and Phil wasn’t really uncomfortable at all, so he took a couple of deep breaths and allowed himself to settle into the bed.

He slowly moved one of his arms so it wasn’t completely trapped under Dan. He ended up resting it on Dan’s back, now cuddling Dan about as much as Dan was cuddling him. 

He let out another slow, deep breath and closed his eyes, falling asleep in under a minute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a bad habit of writing chapter outlines but not actually writing out the chapter, so sorry for the wait! I was also gone for a couple of days, and that prevented me from writing.  
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Let me know!
> 
> tumblr: softgolftechniques


	7. Tree

**Day Seven**

 

 _Soft._ That’s the first thing Dan thought as he was pulled out of his sleep. He felt soft and warm and so, so comfy.

He snuggled further into his pillow, pausing when he could suddenly hear his pillow’s heartbeat.

 _Pillows don’t have a heartbeat_.

He, yet again, realized that he was in fact not sleeping on a pillow. He was, however, snuggled very close to Phil’s chest.

And by the way Phil was breathing, he was not asleep.

_Fuck._

Dan knew it would be pointless to pretend to be asleep. Surely Phil felt him stiffen. Surely Phil already knew th-

“Dan?” Phil said softly, interrupting Dan’s thoughts.

He wondered if he should just not answer. _Maybe if I ignore it, it’ll go away._

“Dan?” Phil repeated.

Dan sighed. “Hmm?”

“You awake?”

“No, Phil, I just love responding to you in my sleep.”

“I just… I just didn’t know for sure.”

“I am awake, Phil,” Dan confirmed. And he was still laying on Phil. Why was he still laying on Phil? He was just making things more awkward. He should move.

He couldn’t move.

He felt frozen, because now it was too late to just casually move away.

“Your heart’s beating really fast,” Phil noted.

Dan hadn’t realized just how closely his entire body was pressed into Phil’s side. He had only been focusing on his head lying on Phil’s chest. This did not make his situation any easier.

“I had too much caffeine last night,” he lied. And, God, that was a terrible lie because Phil knew he only drank water and half of a glass of orange juice last night.

“Oh. Um, I need to pee.”

Dan quickly moved off of Phil, “Right. Okay, right.”

Phil left the bed fast, rushing into the bathroom. Dan got out of bed and left the room before Phil could come back. The last thing he wanted to do was have a discussion about this right now.

 

Dan was in the kitchen when Phil came downstairs, and the rest of the family was seated in the living room.

“Sit with us, Phil, we have something to discuss,” Kathryn said, patting a spot next to her on the couch.

“Something wrong?” He asked.

“Not at all. Come. Sit.”

“I was going to get some coffee first.”

“Dan is fixing it. He’ll be right in.”

As if on cue, Dan entered the room holding two cups of coffee. Without meeting Phil’s eyes, he handed him a cup.

“Thank you,” Phil said, trying to prevent himself from blushing.

Dan only nodded in response, opting to sit on the floor and lean against the loveseat. He was about as far away from Phil as he could get.

“Alright,” Kathryn began, “We know we always come and stay near Orlando for a few weeks but your father saw a brochure at the store yesterday for Saint Augustine. It’s only a couple of hours away and we were thinking of going there for a few days, at least.”

“You children don’t have to join us if you’d like to stay here,” Nigel said. “But there is a lot to do there and quite a bit of history.”

“That’s on the beach, isn’t it?” Cornelia asked.

“Yes, it is,” Kathryn replied.

“Well, I’m in!”

“Yeah, me too,” Martyn agreed.

“I’d love to come,” Dan said, not even glancing at Phil to see what he’d like to do. There was no way Dan could handle a few days alone with him. Not after this morning.

“It sounds nice,” Phil added.

“Fantastic!” Kathryn said, clapping her hands. “Let’s get packed up and we can head out in a couple of hours. I’ll put our good food in a cooler and we can bring it with us.”

“Where will we stay?” Martyn asked.

“We’ve already booked a three bedroom condo on the water.”

Cornelia smiled. “You knew we’d all come, didn’t you?”

“I hoped,” Kathryn grinned.

“She was prepared to cry if need be,” Nigel said.

Kathryn swatted his arm. “Hush, you! Come on everyone! Let’s get packed!”

 

They were all packed up and ready to leave by ten o’clock, and made it to Saint Augustine just past noon.

After arriving at their condo and getting their keys, they headed inside.

It was a lovely place with a living room, kitchen, bedroom and a bathroom on the first floor, and two bedrooms and bathrooms on the second floor.

Nigel and Kathryn took the downstairs room, letting the kids decide who got which room upstairs.

Seeing as both rooms had great views of the ocean, there wasn’t much arguing. Dan and Phil took the slightly smaller room, because it was what Martyn and Cornelia had at the holiday house.

Dan dropped his things inside their room and headed right back downstairs. He didn’t want to give Phil any opportunity to bring up this morning.

“I say we check out downtown for a while,” Nigel said as the rest of the family gathered into the living room. "They have trolleys that take you all around apparently. We can do that and go get some lunch.”

 

They arrived downtown and got tickets for the trolley. When they got on the trolley, Dan went to sit on the same row as Cornelia and Martyn, but Phil stopped him.

“Let’s give them more room and sit here,” he said, guiding Dan to the empty seats two rows behind the rest of the family.

Dan hesitated for a brief moment, but reluctantly joined Phil.

As the trolley headed out onto the road, Phil looked over at Dan. “Why are you ignoring me?” He asked, trying to be as quiet as possible.

“I’m not ignoring you,” Dan replied, staring ahead.

“You haven’t spoken to me since this morning and you’re doing everything you possibly can to avoid me.”

“That’s not true,” Dan defended weakly.

“Then why won’t you even look at me? My family is going to think we’re fighting.”

Dan rolled his eyes, then looked over at Phil. “There, I looked at you. Can you stop whining now?”

“Dan, come on! It’s not that big of a deal. You don’t have to be embarrassed. You’re a cuddly person.”

“Can we just enjoy this scenery, please? I’d like to listen to the driver tell us about the history.”

Phil sat back in his seat and sighed. “Fine.”

 

“Now, this here is the Love Tree,” The driver said ten minutes into their trolley ride. “It’s a palm and an oak tree that grew together. It’s thought that, many years ago, a man and woman planted the trees side by side as a sign of their love for one another. Over the years, the trees grew into one another and that’s the way it's been since. If you kiss your loved one under those trees, you’re destined to be together forever, so be careful who you kiss!”

A few people laughed at the cheesy joke as the driver continued.

“We’re going to be stopping up ahead, if you’d like to exit the trolley and go to the tree or any other surrounding attractions. Another trolley will be by every twenty minutes to pick you up if you choose to go.” The trolley came to a stop, “Please exit to your right and have a great afternoon!”

Phil and Dan were prepared to remain on the trolley, then they saw Nigel and Kathryn stand up. Cornelia and Martyn followed, so Dan and Phil did as well.

“I saw some restaurants a couple of blocks back. I figured we’d walk to them,” Nigel said as they all met up and the trolley continued on its way.

“Yes, and I want photos under those beautiful trees!” Kathryn added.

When they reached the trees, Kathryn pulled her phone out of her bag. “Martyn, would you take a photo of me and your father, please?”

“Of course, Mum.”

Kathryn and Nigel posed under the tree, leaning in for a kiss as the photo was snapped.

“Okay, your turn,” she said, taking the phone and pushing Cornelia and Martyn toward the tree.

Dan and Phil watched, waiting as they did the same pose that Nigel and Kathryn had done.

“Okay, now you two,” Kathryn said, turning to Dan and Phil.

Phil’s eyes widened a bit. “You want us to do that?” He asked.

“You must!” She insisted.

Dan shook his head. “We wouldn’t want to risk people seeing-”

“No one’s around. It’s like a ghost town here right now.” Martyn said. Phil wanted to smack him. “Just do it fast.”

Phil glanced over at Dan, who refused to look back. He began walking up to the tree though, so Phil followed.

“The cheek will be fine,” Phil suggested, but Kathryn shook her head.

“No, it has to be a proper kiss or it won’t count.”

“I don’t think the man said that, Mum,” Phil replied.

“Just listen to your mother, Phil,” Nigel said. “I’m hungry and we can’t get food until the photo is taken.”

They turned toward each other, and Phil placed a shaky hand on Dan’s side. “Okay?” He whispered.

Dan nodded shakily, putting a hand on Phil’s arm so it didn’t look like he was trying to back away.

“Don’t hate me,” Phil breathed out before he leaned in and kissed Dan.

It wasn’t a proper kiss. More like two sets of lips just pressed together. But Phil couldn’t help his heart speeding up, and he could almost swear he felt Dan gasp a bit.

“Alright, all done!” Kathryn said, and Phil almost whined out loud because he kind of didn’t want the moment to end yet.

They parted ways though, and for the first time that day their eyes properly met. They both just stared at each other for a moment. It was kind of like the world around them stopped existing.

It didn’t last long though, as Nigel clapped his hands together and declared it lunchtime.

 

They didn’t have another moment alone until it was bedtime. Dan thought about staying in the living room for a while, just until Phil was asleep, but he really was exhausted and didn’t feel like falling asleep on the couch.

After taking turns brushing their teeth and using the bathroom, Dan laid down. Phil opened the bedroom window, then joined him in bed.

They laid there silently for a bit, enjoying the calming sounds of the ocean waves.

After a couple of minutes, Phil cleared his throat. “So, today was… interesting?” he said, unsure of the proper word that could be used to describe it.

Dan took a deep breath. “Yeah.”

“When we-”

“Goodnight, Phil,” Dan interrupted, pretending he didn’t hear Phil start to speak. He turned over on his side, facing away from Phil.

Phil didn’t miss the fact that Dan had also scooted as far over as possible. He was basically at the very edge of the bed.

Phil let out a silent sigh. “G’night, Dan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live in St. Augustine, so I knew I had to get them there because there's just too much potential for... things. And I needed them to get to that tree lol!
> 
> You can find a photo and some info about the Love Tree here:  
> https://www.visitstaugustine.com/thing-to-do/love-tree-cottage
> 
> Thank you for reading and all the lovely comments! They are all so appreciated.  
> tumblr:softgolftechniques


	8. Fortune

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit longer than usual! Hope you enjoy!

**Day Eight**

 

Phil was very prepared for the entire day to be awkward. Especially with how last night had ended. 

He didn’t sleep well all night, and he wasn’t exactly sure how Dan did either. Dan had managed to stay at the very edge of the bed the entire night, and when Phil wasn’t worrying about Dan being upset over them kissing, he was worrying about Dan falling off of the bed.

He realized he must’ve fallen asleep at some point, because when he woke back up, Dan was gone.

Phil took his time getting ready for the day. It wasn’t like he was excited for a day full of being ignored by Dan.

He finally did come downstairs, however, and was surprised when Dan greeted him with a smile. “Hey! Didn’t think you’d ever wake up.”

“It’s just past ten,” Phil noted.

“I know, but everyone’s been up for a couple of hours and I think Martyn’s been extra loud on purpose.”

“You can’t prove it!” Martyn yelled as he marched downstairs.

“Anyway, we’re all going to head down to the beach. Your mum, dad, and Cornelia are all already down there.”

“And now so am I,” Martyn said, slipping on some shoes and heading out the door.

“I was waiting on you to eat breakfast,” Dan said, walking over to the kitchen. He grabbed two cups and filled each with coffee. “I figure we could watch a show or something while everyone else is out, then join them. I know you wouldn’t want to go out right after waking up.”

“Oh.” Phil was confused. Very confused. “You don’t have to do that. Wait on me, I mean. If you want to head down to the beach.”

Dan shrugged. “I need some alone time too. Plus your mum has it planned for us to have picnics for lunch and dinner on the beach, so once we’re there I don’t think we’ll be coming back.”

Dan handed Phil his cup, filled with coffee made just the way he liked it. “Thank you,” he said.

“No problem. You can find a show and I’ll get a couple of danishes.”

“Alright.” Phil eyed Dan suspiciously for a second before walking over to the living room. He was slightly concerned that Dan had a stroke and forgot everything that occurred the day before.

He worried for a bit, until breakfast, coffee, and stupid cartoons took over. By the time breakfast was over, they had both seemingly gone back to normal.

 

“Ow. Ow. Ow. Fucking ow!” Dan yelled, lifting his foot up to pull a broken shell from it. “This beach hates me.”

“I told you to keep on your shoes while we walked,” Phil reminded him.

“You’re not supposed to walk the beach with shoes on. You’re supposed to be barefoot and let the water go between your toes. Shit!” He lifted his other foot and wiped another shell away.

“I don’t think the ground agrees with you, Dan.”

“Move over,” Dan said, pushing Phil with his arm. “You’ve got me on the line of broken shells.”

“I did not do that, Dan. You said the look of the shells was aesthetically pleasing.”

“Well now they’re fucking dicks.”

Phil laughed and scooted over a bit more so Dan would be completely clear of the shells.

They walked for awhile in silence, then Phil pulled out his phone. “Take a photo of me,” he said, handing the phone over to Dan.

“Okay, but I get to choose the pose.”

“Oh, come on!”

“No, no, I get to choose. Just look out at the water and I’m gonna do a shot from the side.”

“That sounds really cheesy,” Phil replied, glaring at Dan.

“It’s either my way or you’re stuck with a selfie, Lester.”

Phil sighed, then looked out at the water. Dan took the photo, then hummed. “Yeah, that’ll do.”

“Alright.” Phil took his phone back, but kept the camera on. “Your turn.”

“I never said I wanted a photo.”

“I don’t care. You either let me take it or I take fifty pictures of you sleeping and release them one by one.”

Dan tried to glare at Phil, but his dimply smile couldn’t be hidden. “Okay. What’s my pose?”

“Face me, and kinda tilt your head. Look off to the side.”

“And  _ my _ idea was cheesy?”

“Just do it, Howell.”

Dan did as he was told and Phil snapped the picture. He stared at it for a moment, looking at the way the sun shined on Dan’s curly hair. The slight tan Dan had from spending the day on the beach; his freckles starting to show. He looked…  _ beautiful,  _ Phil thought.

Dan clearing his throat.  “What’s wrong? Does my face look weird or something?”

“What? No, no, of course not. I’ll, uh, I’ll send it to you in case you want to post it. It looks fine.”

“Alright, weirdo. We better head back, I’m sure your mum is getting dinner ready.”

Phil put his phone in his pocket and nodded. His mouth was feeling a bit dry anyway, so he’d like to get back and have some water. “Yeah, okay, let’s go.”

 

**Day Nine**

 

The family headed out fairly early for a day of sightseeing. 

They got onto the trolley around ten o’clock and stayed on it through one round trip just to get more used to the town. It took a little over an hour for the full tour, and then they stayed on until they got back to Castillo de San Marcos.

“This is amazing,” Martyn said as they headed up to the fort.

“Yeah, you don’t realize just how big it is until you’re right next to it,” Cornelia replied.

They all paid for their tickets and went inside. It took a while to get through each room, as everyone wanted to stop and take pictures every few seconds.

“Look at this!” Dan said to Phil, pointing at the wall.

They were in the old schoolroom, where kids had carved markings into the walls many, many years ago.

There were a bunch of names written into the wall, along with dates that went back a few hundred years. “Bored,” Phil read off of the wall with a laugh.

“Even kids back then didn’t want to be in school,” Dan replied.

“Can you imagine having to come in here to learn? With no air conditioning? It had to be deadly in this place.”

“Yeah, I’m about to pass out right now and it’s not even that hot. Let’s go to the next room.”

“Alright.”

 

They continued on for a bit, until they reached a room that had a small space to climb through.

“What the hell?” Dan said, bending down to look inside.

“Oh, let’s go in!” Phil said excitedly.

“Yes, because when one sees a room with only a tiny, barely there escape, one must go in, right?”

“Exactly!” Phil replied, already crawling through.

Dan rolled his eyes, but got down on his hands and knees and followed. “If I die in here, I’m blaming you.”

“Alright.”

Phil walked over to a podium and read off of it. 

“What’s it say?” Dan asked, peering over his shoulder.

“Legend says a man and a woman were found dead, chained in here, in 1833. Apparently they had been having an affair. The woman’s husband found out and basically buried them alive in this room.”

“Well, that’s… different.”

“Yeah. They say you can sometimes still smell her perfume.”

Phil took a deep breath, putting his nose up in the air.

“Yes, well, all I smell is our sweat. Let’s go.”

“You’re no fun, Danny,” Phil said, pouting as more tourists entered the room.

“I never claimed to be, Philly.”

 

A few minutes later they were joining the rest of the family on top of the fort. “What are you guys watch-”

Phil was cut off by the sound of a loud boom.

“Holy fuck!” Dan exclaimed, unable to censor himself. “Sorry! Sorry! What was that?!”

“The cannon firing,” Kathryn replied.

“Why are they firing a fu- a cannon?!”

“To give us the full historical experience,” Nigel answered.

“Or a heart attack,” Phil said, a hand over his chest.

“You should’ve been here for the explanation of it all,” Martyn said. “You would’ve wished you’d had a heart attack.”

“Hey!” Cornelia smacked Martyn’s arm, “It wasn’t that bad.”

“Sure it wasn’t.”

 

Once they were done at the fort, they headed over to Ripley’s Believe it or Not. 

“Oh, look! It’s one of those fortune teller machines!” Phil said as they walked into one of the first rooms.

“Of course that’s what you notice,” Dan said.

“Let’s all get one. It’s only a dollar.”

One by one, each family member got a fortune from the machine and read it off.

Phil opened up his card excitedly, “Mine says: Surprising thoughts are headed your way. In fact, they might already be there, in the back of your mind. Do not hide from them.” 

“What thoughts might you be having, Phil?” Martyn asked.

“Shut up,” Phil replied, glaring over at him. “What’s yours say, Dan?”

Dan sighed and opened his card. “Hiding is not good for the soul. Come clean with yourself, and then with others. The outcome may surprise you.” Dan rolled his eyes. “This stuff is so stupid, Phil. I can’t believe I wasted a dollar on it.”

“Hey, it might be good advice,” Cornelia defended. “You might just not know it yet.”

“Yeah, somehow I doubt that.” As the family began to filter out of the room, Dan thought about throwing his fortune in the nearby garbage can. Something stopped him though, and he stuffed it into his back pocket instead.

 

“Oh my God, I’m going to die!” Phil exclaimed, staring at the room in front of him.

“It’s just a spinning wall,” Kathryn said from inside the room, holding tightly onto Nigel.

“I get dizzy when I turn my head around too fast,” Phil replied.

From behind, Dan pushed Phil forward, causing him to stumble into the room.

“Ah! Dan! You jerk!” 

“There’s about to be a line of people behind us. I had to do it.”

“I’m stuck,” Phil said, gripping the bars on either side of him. “I can’t move. I’m going to die.”

“You’re not going to die, Phil. Stop being so dramatic.”

“I’m actually going to throw up.”

Although he’d never admit it, Dan was getting a bit dizzy himself. “Close your eyes,” he said, stepping closer to Phil.

“What?”

“Close your eyes. I’ll lead you out.”

“I can’t let go of the bars, Dan.”

Dan put his hands on Phil’s waist. The feeling gave Phil chills. “Come on. Let’s go. Close your eyes so you don’t barf.”

Phil closed his eyes and took a cautious step forward. “Keep going. I’ll tell you when we’re out.”

Phil’s heart began beating faster, and he was fairly sure it wasn’t because of the room he was in. No, this was something different.

After a few more steps, Dan let go. It made Phil want to whine for him to put his hands back. “Okay, we’re out.”

Dan patted Phil’s back, then moved in front of him to walk out to the gift shop.

Phil just stood there for a moment, watching Dan disappear to go meet up with the rest of his family. He realized then that these feelings he was having were not going to go away and, in fact, they just kept getting worse.

He took a deep breath, adjusted his hair, and went to catch up with his family.

 

“Dan?” Phil waited for an answer. It was pretty late and they had been in bed for a while. For all Phil knew, Dan could have been asleep.

“Yeah?” Dan replied, his voice sleepy but not quite asleep yet.

“Do you really… Do you really not believe in fortunes at all?”

“You know I don’t, Phil.”

“I know, but like-” Phil sighed. “But, do you think that they could still have meaning, even if the idea of a fortune itself isn’t real?”

Dan laughed, trying to hide the fact that these questions were making him nervous. “Phil, what’s this about? It’s just a stupid dollar piece of paper.”

“I keep thinking about mine,” Phil said. His heart was pounding, but he wanted to do this now. It would be less awkward when he couldn’t see Dan’s face. “I think there was some truth to it.”

“Well, of course you would, Phil.”

There was a pause. “What’s that mean?”

Dan shrugged. “Just that you can be a bit gullible with things like that.”

Phil sat up, flinging the covers off of him. “Well, we can’t all be cynical, Dan!” He stood up and walked toward the door.

Dan sat up, confused. “What the hell? Phil, where are you going?”

“I’m not tired,” Phil replied before leaving the room, slamming the door behind him.

Dan flinched at the sound. He had no idea what had just happened.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t totally true. He had been a bit of a jerk, but that’s what he always tended to do when he was nervous. 

He was, however, confused as to why Phil was acting so weird and becoming so defensive.

He knew he should have followed him. He should have gone downstairs and talked to Phil.

But, he didn’t. He stayed in bed, his mind going in circles until he fell into a restless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the kind comments! I always look forward to reading what you have to say.
> 
> Here's some info on the places mentioned in this chapter, in case you want to see where I placed the boys:
> 
> Castillo de San Marcos: https://www.nps.gov/casa/index.htm  
> The hidden room: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXTSr3TQZVk  
> Ripley's Believe it or Not: http://www.ripleys.com/staugustine/odditorium/  
> Spinning room: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Og08nJAStw (yes, I have fallen down in here)
> 
> tumblr: softgolftechniques


	9. Moon

**Day 10**

 

Dan found himself waking up fairly early, and filled with dread. He instantly remembered everything that had happened the night before, causing him to let out a groan as he turned onto his back. He looked over to see the space beside him was still empty, meaning Phil never came back to bed.

He knew he wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep, so he used the restroom then quietly began making his way downstairs.

He figured everyone would still be asleep, so he was surprised to see Kathryn in the kitchen fixing coffee.

“Good morning!” Kathryn greeted with a smile, keeping her voice quiet.

“Good morning,” Dan replied, forcing himself to smile back.

Kathryn poured water into the coffee pot and pressed the ‘on’ switch. “Philip’s on the couch, if you were wondering,” she said, knowing there would be no other reason for Dan to be awake this early.

“Oh, okay. Thank you.”

“No problem, Darling. Did something happen last night?”

Dan nervously shifted from one foot to the other. “Um-”

“Oh, Nigel’s always telling me I’m too nosey. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, Dear.”

“No, it’s okay,” Dan replied, calming down a bit. He leaned back against the counter as Kathryn pulled a couple of cups from the cabinet. “We had a bit of a disagreement last night, I suppose. Really, I’m not quite sure what it was.”

“A misunderstanding, perhaps?” She offered.

“Yeah, I think so.”

Kathryn nodded. “Would you like a cup?” She asked, pouring one for her and one for Nigel. 

“No, thank you.”

“Well, it’s perfectly normal to have misunderstandings. Nigel and I still have them and we’ve been together for over forty years.” She walked to the fridge and got the cream, then poured a little into each cup. “I’m sure you and Phil have had them before, yes?”

Dan sighed. “We’ve had little arguments,” he said with a shrug. “This one seemed different though.”

Kathryn looked over at him and gave him a sympathetic smile. “Martyn and Cornelia will probably be asleep for another hour or so, and Nigel and I are going to have coffee in our room. Why don’t you wake Phil up and have a chat? No reason to spend a day worrying when the issue can be resolved quickly.”

Dan took a deep breath and stood up a bit straighter. “Yeah, I think I might do that.”

“Good.” Kathryn picked up the cups and began to leave the kitchen, but turned back. “And could you tell him to not slam his door so loud if he gets upset again? I made Nigel check Google to see if there was a rare earthquake here last night.”

Dan nodded, trying to stop himself from blushing out of embarrassment. With one last smile, Kathryn headed back to her room.

 

Dan walked into the living room, stopping when he saw Phil asleep on the couch. He was a bit taller than the couch, so he was curled up on his side, and he didn’t have any covers. His arms were folded in what appeared to be an attempt to keep warm, and he had a frown on his face.

Dan sighed before bending down and placing a hand on Phil’s arm. “Phil,” he whispered, shaking him gently. “Phil.”

Phil began to groan, trying to push away from the person shaking him.

“Phil, wake up,” Dan said, a little louder this time.

Phil blinked his eyes open slowly, glaring to make out the blurry person in front of him. “What?” He asked grumpily when he realized it was Dan. 

“I think we need to talk,” Dan answered. 

“What time is it?”

“Just after eight.”

Phil yawned as he sat up, rubbing at his eyes. “There’s nothing to talk about,” he said, purposely not making eye contact.

“Oh, come on, Phil, don’t be a dick,” Dan said. There was no viciousness behind his words. It was just how he communicated. It was his version of, “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I’m not. There’s just nothing to say.” Phil stood up and walked passed Dan, heading upstairs.

“What are you doing?” Dan asked, following behind him. 

“Well, I can’t see and I need to pee.”

“Good rhyming, Phil!” Dan joked, hoping it would get some sort of reaction from Phil.

It didn’t.

Phil entered their room and walked over to the nightstand, picking up his glasses and putting them on. 

“Phil, you’re being a bit ridiculous. You can’t pretend we didn’t end up in some weird fight thing last night. Even your mother knows.”

Phil turned around, looking at Dan for the first time that morning, “How would she know?”

“Hmm. I suppose it could be that you were sleeping on the couch this morning,” Dan said, becoming a little irritated now. “Or it could be that you slammed the door last night like a whiny child who didn’t get their way.”

“Whatever,” Phil said, waving a dismissive hand as he walked toward the bathroom. He stopped and turned when he heard Dan following behind him. “Are you going to follow me in there?”

“Maybe.”

Phil rolled his eyes and walked into the bathroom, swinging the door shut behind him. 

“I’ll stay right here until you get out, Philip Lester!” Dan said through the door.

Phil’s only response was turning the shower on.

 

After their failure to communicate that morning, Dan decided to let Phil mope on his own for a bit. The whole family was going to be spending the day downtown again, and Dan wanted to be able to enjoy the day.

It was slightly difficult, however, when Phil would hardly speak to the family, and wouldn’t speak to Dan at all.

“Hey,” Cornelia said, walking over to Dan. The family had gone inside a shop to look around and Dan decided to sit outside and wait.

“Hey. Didn’t want anything?”

“Nah. Martyn and Phil are looking at t-shirts though, so…”

“So, it’ll be a while,” Dan finished.

“Yeah. You guys okay? Phil’s acting a bit strange today.”

Dan sighed. “Oh, you know, just some domestic arguments.”

“Ah,” she replied with a nod. “Those are fun.”

“Oh, yeah, I love them.”

“What was it about, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Dan sighed. It wasn’t that he minded talking about it, he was just still confused himself. “He was talking about those fortunes we got yesterday. He knows I don’t believe in that stuff but he seemed to get really upset when I told him that.” He paused. “I _may_ have called him gullible too. But we always say stuff like that to each other and he never takes it the way he took it this time.”

Cornelia nodded, taking all of the information in. “Well, maybe this meant more to him then things usually do.”

“I may… I may remember him trying to say something like that,” Dan admitted. “And I may have prevented him from saying whatever it was.”

She patted Dan’s back reassuringly. “Just give him some time and, when he’s ready, let him finish what he was trying to say.”

 

It was almost three o’clock when Dan tried talking to Phil again. They were on the trolley, a few rows away from the rest of the group, so Dan figured it would be a good time.

“Phil?”

Phil ignored him.

“Phil, come on. Don’t you think you’re being a bit ridiculous? I’m sorry for not listening to you last night. I didn’t think it would be that important.”

“I was just being gullible anyway,” Phil replied, glaring over at Dan.

Dan sighed. “Phil, we say stuff like that to each other all the time. You  _ can _ be gullible. And I  _ can  _ be cynical.” He nudged Phil with his elbow, “That’s why we work so well together. We even each other out.”

“I know,” Phil agreed.

“Okay… Then can you tell me the problem? I’m afraid your family’s going to start hating me or something, thinking I hurt you.”

Phil shook his head. “They’d never hate you. They like you too much.”

“Well, that’s good to know. However, at the risk of sounding like a fucking cheese-fest, I’d like for you to not hate me too.”

“I don’t hate you,” Phil responded quickly, sounding sincere for the first time that day. “I just… I don’t know yet.”

Dan stared at him for a moment. “Don’t know what?”

“I don’t know,” he repeated.

“Alright. Can you tell me when you do?”

Phil nodded and, for right now, that had to be enough.

 

Around seven o’clock that evening, the family decided to sit on the beach while the sunset behind them.

Phil was still being quiet, but not as distant as earlier. He had spoken a few words to Dan that afternoon, and even laughed at some family jokes.

Each couple sat down a few feet away from each other so they could have some privacy. Phil sat down first, and Dan approached him cautiously. “Can I sit?” He asked, causing Phil to look over at him.

“Of course,” Phil replied, giving him a small smile. That simple gesture helped Dan calm down a bit.

He sat down beside Phil, leaving a few inches of space between them. Usually they’d be shoulder to shoulder, but Dan didn’t want to push his luck.

They stared out at the water for a while, watching the sky grow darker and the moon illuminate the ocean. 

“That is…” Dan’s voice trailed off, at a loss for words.

“Aesthetically pleasing?” Phil suggested.

Dan laughed. “Yes, actually. In a non-painful way, unlike the fucking seashells.”

“Still bitter about that?”

“Forever and always.”

They were quiet again, both enjoying the sounds of the ocean waves calmly hitting into the shore.

“I am sorry,” Dan said, turning his attention back to Phil, “For being a dick last night.”

Phil sighed. “I think I can count on one hand the amount of times we’ve apologized to each other over the past eight years.”

“There weren’t many times we really needed to. We usually just get over stuff.” He shrugged, looking down at his hand playing in the sand between them, “This felt like one of the times I needed to though.”

Phil bit at his lip, then stared down at Dan’s hand. After a few seconds, he reached out and took Dan’s hand in his. He held his breath as Dan stilled beside him, only exhaling once Dan’s fingers wrapped between his.

“For the family, you know,” Phil said, “So they don’t think we’re still fighting.”

“Mmm,” Dan hummed, glancing over at the rest of the family. The rest of the family who, in no way, could see that Dan and Phil were holding hands. “Should we wave them over so they’d actually know?” He joked, grinning at Phil.

Phil just stared back at Dan, admiring how the moonlight shined on his face. Admiring his dimples, his curly hair blowing in the wind, his… his everything.

It was then that he saw it. Dan’s eyes, for the briefest second, moved to Phil’s lips. 

Phil’s heart began to race, but he wouldn’t allow himself to back out now.

He leaned forward, giving Dan time to back out if he wanted.

He didn’t.

Their eyes closed as their lips met, both of them sucking in a breath as they kissed. It wasn’t anything like it had been in front of that tree. Because this time they weren’t being pressured by family. This time they weren’t being photographed. This time was a choice all of their own. And this time it lasted longer than two seconds.

When they finally parted, Dan’s chest was heaving slightly. “Was that for your family too?” He asked, a glimmer in his eyes that hadn’t been there before.

"Shut up!" Phil laughed, nudging Dan's arm with his elbow.

There were still things that needed to be discussed, and both of them still had questions, but all of that could wait. As Phil scooted closer and Dan laid his head on Phil's shoulder, all that mattered right now was this moment. 

And that was enough.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't feel like there's a way to properly thank all of you for all of the kind things you say! Just know I appreciate you all!
> 
> I'll be updating my other story before I update this again, but it shouldn't take too long! I already have this next chapter outlined and ready to be written out.
> 
> tumblr: softgolftechniques


	10. Morning

**Day Eleven**

 

They needed to talk. Both of them knew it. So, when they woke up the next morning, after they got up, brushed their teeth, and used the restroom, they climbed back into bed with every intention of doing just that.

However, actually talking to one another seemed to be slightly more difficult than thinking about it.

They were both lying on their sides, face to face, with the covers pulled up underneath their arms.

After a couple of minutes of complete silence, both boys going between staring at each other and just looking aimlessly around the room, Phil reached out.

He touched Dan’s hand, which was settled between them on the bed. His fingers gently rubbed over the top of Dan’s hand. Dan just watched him for a moment, his heart beginning to race at the touch.

A minute or so passed before Dan turned his hand over. Phil pulled his fingers back for a second, but quickly returned them when he realized Dan wasn’t rejecting the touch.

He drew mindless shapes into Dan’s palm, going over all the lines in his hands. To Dan, it looked like Phil was using his hand as a map, using his fingers to plan the directions and figure out which roads to take.

The softness of it all tickled Dan a bit, but not enough to pull away. It gave him chills. He didn’t think he’d ever enjoy something so cheesy, but he loved it.

He moved his gaze from their hands to Phil’s face, who looked like he was concentrating hard.

The silence, while beautiful and calming, couldn’t last forever. “What are you thinking?” Dan asked, trying to keep his voice as soft as possible. Any noise sounded like too much noise right now.

Phil’s eyes jerked up to look at Dan, his fingers stopping their motion as his hand now just rested on top of Dan’s. He must’ve been lost in his thoughts.

“Last night,” he replied, unable to think of a better answer.

Dan tried, and failed, to hide a smile. He moved his hand out from under Phil and poked at Phil’s chest. “What about it?” He asked cheekily.

Phil grinned, catching Dan’s hand to stop the poking. He leaned forward a bit, slowly in case he was reading the situation wrong, and kissed Dan. Dan freed his hand from Phil’s grasp, but only to move it to Phil’s cheek.

It was a sweet kiss at first, fairly reserved on both sides due to the newness of it all. That didn’t last long, however, as they both became more comfortable very quickly. The kiss deepened as they scooted closer to one another, foregoing any space that was previously between them.

After what felt like a minute, Dan finally pulled back. “I just feel the need to remind you,” he said, clearing his throat as he tried to catch his breath. “That your family is not in the room and therefore cannot witness this.”

Phil’s chest was heaving; his warm, minty breath hitting Dan’s cheek. “It’s practice,” he replied quickly, bringing his hand up to Dan’s face and kissing him again.

 

When they emerged from the room a half hour later, they were both trying to conceal the fact that they were blushing, and their lips were slightly darker and pinker than usual.

“Hello!” Cornelia greeted, walking out of her and Martyn’s room.

They both jumped a bit, her presence scaring them.

“Hello!” Dan replied, smiling a bit too widely. “Good, um, good morning.” Phil jabbed Dan’s side with his elbow, hinting for him to cool it.

“Good morning,” she replied, eyeing them both suspiciously before leading the way downstairs. “Martyn and I are going down to the beach for a bit. Would you two like to come?”

“Sure.”

“No, thanks.”

They both replied at the same time, looking over at one another before they both changed their answer.

“Oh, okay.”

“Nah, maybe not.”

She looked back at them when they reached the bottom of the stairs. “Okay, you two make up your minds and find us if you decide to come. Ready Martyn?” She called out, heading into the living room.

“Yeah!” He replied.

Dan and Phil went into the kitchen to fix some coffee and breakfast. At the same time, they reached for the coffee tin.

“Oh, sorry,” Dan said, letting go.

“No, it’s fine.” He held the tin out for Dan to take. “You can make it. I’ll do cereal.”

“No, you can do coffee! I’ll make the cereal.”

“Are you sure? Cause I really don’t mind ma-”

“Oh, for the love of God!” Martyn interrupted, giving them their second scare of the morning. “Could one of you just make the coffee and one the cereal and move away from the fridge? I need to get some waters.”

Mumbling apologies, they both moved away from the fridge. Phil walked over to the coffee pot while Dan pulled a box of cereal out of the pantry.

“You guys need some of that chapstick with the sun protection in it,” Martyn said as he closed the fridge back. “Your lips look sunburnt. I have the chapstick and mine look like angel lips,” he said, puckering his lips as he walked past the boys.

“I don’t think that’s from the sun,” Cornelia said, waiting for Martyn by the front door.

“Oh?” He paused. “Oh!” He turned around to look at Phil. “So you guys made up! Good for you! A little creepy that you did it right next door to me, but-”

“Martyn, go,” Phil begged, his cheeks getting even redder than before.

“I’m going, I’m going! Mum and Dad are out getting some groceries though, just in case you wanted to make up some mo-”

“Go, Martyn!”

Martyn laughed as Cornelia came and pulled on his shirt, forcing him to leave the boys alone.

They quietly went about their tasks, Dan getting a couple of bowls for cereal while Phil poured the coffee.

“Martyn’s right,” Dan said, breaking the silence.

“What about?” Phil asked.

“You should get some of that chapstick. Just so, you know, they don’t get sunburnt or something,” he replied. It was more of a way to tell Phil that he wanted to kiss him more, and he hoped Phil could read between the lines.

“Yeah, I’ll, um, I’ll text my mum to get me some,” he said, quickly leaving the room to go find his phone.

Dan smiled, knowing Phil definitely understood.

 

That evening, the family went out to a relaxing dinner on the river. As everyone sat around the round table, Nigel couldn’t help but focus on Dan and Phil. The boys were sitting close together, staring down at the same menu. They each had a menu of their own, but Dan’s laid open, flat on the table. They were laughing over something Phil had said, but Nigel hadn’t heard what it was.

It wasn’t something for anyone else to hear. Just for the two of them.

They had a lot of those moments over the past eight years. Nigel had seen them share many inside jokes that no one else could have ever understood.

A lot of people thought of him as oblivious, but Nigel noticed things. He just wasn’t as open about it. He kept his thoughts mostly to himself, saving them for when he and Kathryn were by themselves.

Ever since he met Dan, he knew something was different. Phil had quite a few friends growing up, but this friendship wasn’t anything like he’d ever seen before.

_“They’re like peanut butter and jam,” he told Kathryn one night after Phil had excitedly left to go visit Dan._

_“What do you mean?” She asked with a laugh._

_“They’re good apart, but they work better together.”_

It was true too. Nigel would never say that they couldn’t properly function without one another, because the truth was they probably could, but they wouldn’t want to.

Things that bothered Phil, like people speaking too loudly, or being overly dramatic, didn’t bother him when it came to Dan. Dan could get by with things that he or Kathryn couldn’t even do.

Like, when Dan would come to stay at the house and clean Phil’s room. Phil would happily let him go through his drawers and reorganize everything. However, if he or Kathryn had ever tried to do it, Phil would have thrown a fit saying he couldn’t find anything anymore.

Yes, Dan was an exception to every rule that Phil had.

By the time the boys were moving into their third house together, Nigel knew there was something more than just friendship between the two. He never would have said it to Phil, because that would be for him to open up about in his own time. However, it’s not so subtle when your son discusses buying a house one day and getting a dog, then adds that, _“Dan wants a Shiba Inu and I want a Corgi, so we’ll probably get both.”_

Yes, since the day they met, Nigel knew those boys would be together forever.

It was nice to have it confirmed though. Nice to know they were both comfortable enough with each other, and with the family, to be honest about what they were.

Nigel watched as Phil held the menu open, letting Dan continue to look over it even after he had chosen what he wanted. He would make suggestions every few seconds, earning either a nod or a grimace from Dan, until they had both decided what they were going to eat.

They both closed their menus and Phil put his hands down in his lap. After a few seconds, Dan reached down and took his hand, holding it under the table.

To anyone else, it wouldn’t look like they were holding hands, but Nigel could tell. It was a sweet gesture that was meant for them and, with their chairs being backed up to a wall, they didn’t have to worry about anyone else seeing.

When Dan took Phil’s hand, Nigel could see Phil’s face brighten a bit. Phil took a deep breath, then they continued whatever conversation they were now having with Martyn and Cornelia.

Both of his boys were happy. Both of his boys were in love. And he couldn’t be more grateful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've received such sweet notes from people on here and on tumblr and I feel the need to say thank you over and over again! 
> 
> This is the restaurant I imagined them at: http://www.simplystaugustine.com/dining/caps-on-the-water/  
> You've got to scroll down a bit to get to the restaurant, but you'll get to see some pics of the place and the food! It's a really pretty place to eat, inside or out!
> 
> Tumblr: softgolftechniques


	11. Kiss

**Day Twelve**

 

Kissing was good. Kissing was fun. It was something they both enjoyed. That’s why, before falling asleep the night before, they seemed to be attached at the lips for a half hour. It’s also why, after getting up to brush their teeth, they made their way back to the bed and continued where they had left off the night before.

It never goes further than kissing. Neither of them will let it. They both know they need to talk before anything else happens, even though neither of them have said it out loud. 

“What time is it?” Phil asked, reluctantly pulling away from Dan.

Dan looked over at the clock. “Almost eleven,” he replied, a bit breathless. 

Phil groaned, moving himself from lying halfway on top of Dan and sitting up instead. “We should go downstairs or they’ll think we’re doing something.”

“We  _ are _ doing something,” Dan replied with a laugh.

Phil smiled and pushed Dan’s shoulder. “Yeah, but I don’t need them knowing that!”

“I’m just saying,” Dan said, sitting up and leaning against the headboard. “You were the one who told me we needed to make it as realistic as possible. I’m simply trying to be a good friend, Lester.”

“Yes, well be a good friend and post our Sims video,” Phil replied, getting out of bed and heading to the door. “I’ll be downstairs with the coffee and bagels when you’re done.”

 

The day was relatively uninteresting. While the rest of the family filtered in and out from the beach, Dan and Phil remained on the couch watching TV, scrolling through tumblr, and responding to people on Twitter. 

It was nice to have a relaxing day indoors, seeing they had been spending quite a bit of time outside lately. 

Today felt more like they were at home. Completely comfortable in their environment, not having to change out of pyjamas or worry about fans spotting them outside.

It wasn’t that they really minded. It was just nice to not think about it. 

Everything felt so… normal. 

And that’s what interested Dan the most. He couldn’t help but glance over at Phil every once in awhile, and think about the fact that he had been making out with him just a few hours ago.

That that’s something they apparently do in their free time now.

That maybe it means something more for them.

And that, somehow, even though there is some sort of extra layer to their relationship now, everything felt the same. 

They still sat side by side on the couch, laughing over whatever show was currently on. They still showed each other tumblr posts. They still told each other to respond to someone’s Twitter question. 

It was all just so simple. It didn’t seem like it should be. It should make them feel awkward around each other. That’s what Dan thought, anyway. 

They didn’t though. Sure, it was awkward to come face to face with Phil’s family members only seconds after a makeout session, but nothing was weird between the two of them.

They were still just Dan and Phil. And that made Dan’s heart beat a little bit faster.

 

**Day Thirteen**

 

“This is the fountain?” Phil questioned, staring down into a tiny hole.

“I guess so,” Dan replied.

“Would you both like a cup of water from the Fountain of Youth?” A worker asked, coming up to them with a bright smile and a couple of tiny cups.

“Sure,” Phil responded as they each took a cup. “Is this the fountain though, or is there one somewhere else?”

“No, this is it,” she replied.

“Oh, it’s, um… It’s-”

“It’s not really a fountain,” Nigel said, walking up behind the boys.

The worker ignored them, instead turning to another group to offer them some water.

Dan and Phil both took a sip of their water at the same time.

“Ew!” Phil exclaimed, poking his tongue out in disgust.

“Oh, that tastes like shit,” Dan said before realizing Nigel was still there. “Sorry,” he added, turning back to him.

“It’s alright, Son,” Nigel replied, giving him a quick pat on the shoulder. “I thought the same thing when I tried it. We’re all going to walk around the grounds. Come meet us when you’re finished here.”

Phil nodded and Nigel left them to do their own thing. 

“You want your picture by the fountain-hole thing?” Dan asked.

“Uh, maybe by the sign instead,” Phil suggested, pointing over to the ‘Fountain of Youth’ sign that looked about ten times better than the actual fountain did. 

“Alright, get your butt on over there, Philly.”

Phil went to hand his phone to Dan, but stopped. “Why don’t we take it together?” He asked, looking around for a worker.

“Okay.”

They got their picture taken and, once they had both looked over it to make sure it was alright, they headed out to find the rest of the family. 

“What should I say when I post it?” Phil asked.

“How about, ‘It may not make you live forever, but that’s okay because you’ll want to die after you taste the water.’”

Phil laughed, “A bit wordy, don’t you think?” 

“But true.”

“Come on, help me out. I can’t post that! Some people might get offended. They might love that tiny hole in the ground and the water that comes from it.”

“Then those people are far too gone to save, Phil, because that water is trash.”

“Ugh! You’re the worst, Dan.”

“You know, you say that a lot,” Dan said, poking Phil in the shoulder, “But yet you still stick around. Therefore, you must also be the worst.”

“No, I am the best and I stick around to try and make you a little better,” Phil replied, poking Dan back.

“Oh, really?” Dan laughed. “That’s how you treat your- Holy fucking shit!” Dan exclaimed as a cannon fired a few feet away from them, making them both jump.

“Oh my God, my heart is beating so fast!” Phil said, holding a hand to his chest.

“Why the fuck do they do that everywhere? What’s the fucking point? We get it, you fired cannons!”

“I really need to exercise more,” Phil said, trying to calm himself back down. “Too many more cannon firings and I might actually have a heart attack.”

“Come on,” Dan said, pulling on Phil’s shirt to move them away from the cannons. “Let’s go find your family first, then we’ll have a heart attack later.”

 

Dan was lying on his back, one arm wrapped around Phil’s waist and the other on his cheek. Phil was on his side, one arm bent to hold him up, while his other hand laid over Dan’s stomach. This was apparently their signature positions for when they were kissing. It was a way to be close without their lower halves touching. 

They had been doing this for almost an hour now, going from soft and gentle kisses, to rough and messy ones, and everything in between. Back and forth, back and forth, only pausing when things seemed to start moving a little too fast.

Currently, however, Dan was trying not to focus on the simple fact that Phil’s tongue was in his mouth. 

Because,  _ holy shit,  _ Phil’s tongue was in his mouth, and if that wasn’t the best thing ever, Dan didn’t know what was. 

The thought that  _ this  _ was actually happening made everything feel even better and, before Dan could stop himself, he moaned. 

It wasn’t very loud, but it was definitely loud enough for Phil to hear, and loud enough for him to stop after a few more seconds of kissing. 

“I think we should…” Phil’s voice trailed off as he tried to catch his breath, resting his forehead on top of Dan’s.

Dan nodded, then leaned up and gave Phil one more quick peck. “Yeah, yeah, okay.”

As Phil moved to lay down, Dan got up. “I need to use the toilet,” he said, making his way to the bathroom.

When he got inside, he let out a deep breath, then turned on the sink. As he splashed cold water over his face, he thought about what they were doing.

And then he realized that he had no idea _what_ they were doing.

Sure, they were apparently kissing regularly now, but what exactly did that mean?

Was it just a vacation thing?

Was it something that, once they were home, they’d never speak about again?

Were they going to become more than friends?

Dan hated these questions that filled in his mind. He didn’t want to have to worry about it all. He didn’t want to be that type of person. He just wanted to be able to enjoy whatever this was.

But, he couldn’t really enjoy it if he didn’t know what  _ it  _ was.

He turned off the sink and dried his face off, then walked back to the bed. He climbed under the covers and turned on his side, staring at the back of Phil’s head for a moment before he spoke. “Phil?” He whispered, then waited for a response. 

“Phil?” He repeated when no response came.

He sighed, rolling his eyes at Phil’s ability to fall asleep so fast. 

Dan turned onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, letting his thoughts run wild until he fell asleep almost two hours later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took longer to write out than I expected! I think it's because I had a clearer grasp on what should happen after this part than what should happen during these two days!   
> Thank you for all the kind comments!
> 
> tumblr: softgolftechniques
> 
> Oh, and here's a picture of the "fountain" at the Fountain of Youth. It's literally the lamest place ever, but the grounds around it are pretty. The water sucks though! http://myamericanodyssey.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Fountain_of_Youth_Archaeological_Park_St_Augustine5.jpg


	12. Don't

**Day Fourteen**

 

“There’s so much to do here,” Phil said as he and Dan walked around the outlet mall. “It’s overwhelming!”

“Tourist traps can be like that,” Dan replied.

“They have two, huge outlet malls right across from one another! I didn’t know so many stores even existed.”

“Phil, you’ve been to the Florida mall, you spoon! It’s bigger than these outlets.”

“Still, this seems like more!” Phil replied, motioning to the stores surrounding them. 

Dan smiled as he looked at Phil’s overwhelmed expression. “You’re too adorable, Philly.”

Phil laughed. “Shut up! You know you agree with me, you’re just too stubborn to admit it.”

“It’s the American way, Phil. Overdoing things to make foreigners jaws drop.”

“Well, it’s working.”

“Come on, let’s go in this store,” Dan said, nudging Phil’s shoulder to lead him toward the door. “It says they have food samples.”

It felt nice for the two to be spending the day out together. No one else wanted to go to the outlet malls, so Dan and Phil got an Uber and went alone. It was like nothing had changed between them, which made Dan happy and worried at the same time.

“Oh, chips and salsa!” Phil exclaimed, picking up a sample. He handed one to Dan then got one for himself.

Dan took a bite. “It’s good,” he said, his mouth full.

Phil nodded. “There’s coffee over there,” he said, pointing to another table with samples of coffee.

“Really, Phil?” Dan questioned, following behind him. “You’re going to to drink coffee with chips and salsa? That’s going to be disgusting.”

“It’ll be good!” Phil replied, picking up a cup and drinking it quickly. He cringed, but quickly tried- and failed- to cover it up.

“I told you!” Dan squealed with a laugh. “That has to taste awful.”

“It’s like sucking on a pepper covered in coffee grounds.”

“One day you’ll realize I’m always right, Philly. Sadly it’ll be too late for your taste buds at that time.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Move over, I see chocolate!”

 

They stayed in the store for a while, trying the samples of chocolate, and chips and salsa over and over until they could feel the employees staring at them, judging them.

That’s when they decided they might as well go eat an actual lunch instead of losing any shred of dignity they may have had left.

They made their way to the cafeteria and each ordered a hamburger, a basket of fries to share, and a couple of drinks. 

“It’s been a good trip,” Phil said as they sat down with their trays of food. 

“Yeah, it has,” Dan agreed, trying to stop his cheeks from blushing at some of the memories.

“You know you’re going to have to come on every family holiday now, right?”

“Oh, please, your family is probably sick of me.”

“Hey, I’ve told you a million times that my family loves you. Seriously, they’d adopt you if they could.”

Dan laughed. “Well, that’s good cause I like them too.”

“It’s so much nicer with you here, too,” Phil added. The comment made Dan’s heart race. “I always felt like a third wheel with Martyn and Cornelia. I mean, I love them and they’re great, but it’s just…  _ nicer _ with you here.”

Dan smiled. “I like being here,” he said, reaching for a fry. 

They ate in silence for a while. Dan would occasionally steal a glance at Phil, as if doing so could help him read his mind.

He was usually pretty good at reading Phil’s facial expressions and understanding what he was thinking, or going to say, before Phil would actually do it.

Maybe it was that, right now, they weren’t thinking about the same thing, and that’s why it made it more difficult.

Or maybe Dan was just trying too hard.

He wasn’t sure. All he knew is that he needed to stop internalizing all of his thoughts and actually say something. 

It was  _ Phil,  _ not some random guy. He’s known Phil for eight years. They know each other better than anyone else. Dan’s told him things that he’s never told another soul, and Phil has done the same.

So, he could do this. He could find his voice and-

“Dan?” Phil’s voice brought Dan out of his thoughts.

“What?” Dan asked, looking up at Phil.

“You’ve been staring at the fries for like five minutes. You alright?”

Dan took a deep breath. “I think… I mean, we… I think we should talk, Phil,” he finally managed to get out. He thought he might puke as he waited for a response.

Phil nodded, his face understanding. “I do too. Just, um,” he looked around the cafeteria, which was beginning to fill up quite a bit. It would be too much of a risk to discuss things here and now. “Not here. Tonight, though. When we’re alone.”

Dan let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “Yeah. Good, that’s good.”

Phil smiled. “Okay. Now, stop staring at the fries and eat them.”

 

It was almost midnight when they finally made their way up to the bedroom. They had spent the evening playing board games and didn’t finish until late.

As they got into bed, they scooted close to one another. “We can wait and talk tomorrow,” Dan said, feeling a bit too tired to get into everything right now.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Phil replied. 

Their foreheads were almost touching with how close they were. Phil kept looking into Dan’s eyes, and damn, he really needed to stop doing that because it was making Dan feel less tired. 

Apparently, Dan’s eyes were doing the same thing to Phil, because before either of them really made a conscious decision to do it, they were kissing. 

Phil was pushing Dan back so he was lying flat, and Phil was propping himself up beside him like he always did. 

This time was different from before. There didn’t seem to be any hesitation from either of them. One of Dan’s hands was against Phil’s cheek, and his other found its way sliding up Phil’s shirt.

The touch made Phil drop down a little bit, causing him to lie almost completely on top of Dan.

Their legs tangled together and Phil found himself moving away from Dan’s lips and kissing his cheek, to his chin, and then his neck.

And, God, Dan’s neck was sensitive. So sensitive he couldn’t help but moan. He instantly regretted it, because that’s what made Phil stop before, and he didn’t want Phil to stop right now.

Thankfully, Phil didn’t, and instead moved down to Dan’s collarbone. It was the last part he could reach with Dan’s shirt on, and Dan made a mental note that he was going to have to wear one of his high-neck sweaters tomorrow. 

It wasn’t until Dan’s second moan that Phil stopped. And he didn’t stop because of Dan; he stopped because the sound caused him to press himself against Dan and he wasn’t exactly sure if that was something he should do.

He pulled away, his eyes wide and his chest heaving. “We should stop?” He forced himself to say, although it came out as more of a question than a statement.

Dan shook his head, his own breath coming out in little gasps. “Don’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Let me know!! Thank you!
> 
> tumblr: softgolftechniques


	13. Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare yourselves! It's a long one!

**Day Fifteen**

 

Phil was naked. He was very, very naked. It took him a moment to realize this when he woke up, unsure why the room felt a bit breezier than it ever had before. But, once he realized, he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

And he couldn’t stop thinking about it because his arm was draped around Dan’s waist, and Dan was also very, very naked.

Memories from the night before replayed in his head. The kissing, the touching, the clothes being tossed away until nothing was separating them from each other.

The memories of shushing each other with kisses, and pressing their bodies together. 

The memories of staring into each other’s eyes, asking each other a few too many times if the other was sure, and holding onto one another like their life depended on it.

The memories of laughing when Phil accidentally hit his head on Dan’s chin, or when Dan’s leg started to cramp up. The ability to go from serious to laughing within seconds, but somehow the mood never being ruined by the little inconveniences.

Dan stirred in his sleep, turning onto his side so Phil’s hand was now on Dan’s hip.

His naked, naked hip.

As wonderful as the memories from last night were, Phil couldn’t help the feeling of dread that he was starting to feel in the pit of his stomach.

Dan had wanted to talk. 

They both wanted to talk before things went any further. They didn’t even know if things  _ should _  go any further.

It all happened so fast. They were supposed to just go to sleep. But, God, Dan’s eyes were so beautiful and he just kept  _ staring  _ at Phil, and Phil never said he was the strongest person in the world. 

It was a moment of weakness, and Phil felt responsible for it. Responsible because, at the mall, Dan didn’t say, “Hey, I want us to have sex tonight.” He said he wanted to talk. That’s what they both agreed on.

They hadn’t agreed on this.

Okay, they  _ had  _ agreed, but they shouldn’t have and Phil should have stopped it.

_ I should have stopped it. _

_ I should have stopped it. _

That’s what kept replaying in his head. Over and over as the guilt grew in his gut. 

He slowly moved away from Dan, making sure not to disturb him, and got out of bed. He looked around for his pyjama bottoms and t-shirt, picking up Dan’s by accident at first.

Once he found his clothes, he slipped them on and headed downstairs. He could hear sounds from the kitchen, so he hoped being around his family could help distract him if only for a little while.

 

Dan didn’t come downstairs for another hour, giving Phil just enough time to get his mind off of what happened before the memories were forced back.

“Good morning, Dan,” Cornelia greeted as she headed into the kitchen for a drink.

“Good morning,” he replied, giving her a sleepy smile as he rubbed at his eyes.

He walked into the living room and Phil looked away the second Dan tried to make eye contact with him.

“What time did you get up?” Dan asked, sitting down beside Phil.

“About an hour ago,” Phil replied, staring down into his coffee cup.

“Oh. I must’ve been out of it. I never heard you leave the room.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Phil and I were just discussing what we should all do today,” Cornelia said, walking back into the room with a water and a couple of cookies in her hands. “Kathryn and Nigel left it up to us.”

“What are the options?” Dan asked, and Phil had never felt so grateful for Cornelia in his entire life. 

“The Alligator Farm and Lighthouse, or the Pirate Museum and Wax Museum. We’re going to do both, eventually, we just don’t know which to do today.”

“I vote Alligator Farm,” Dan replied.

“No!” Martyn exclaimed as he headed downstairs. 

“Sorry!” Cornelia replied, laughing. “It’s three against one. You’ll get to be a pirate tomorrow.”

Martyn came over and sat down beside her. “I wanted to take pictures by all the wax figures and pretend I was wax,” he pouted.

“Well, you’ll get to do that tomorrow too,” she replied with a laugh. 

As they got into their own conversation, Dan looked over at Phil. “Hey, you okay?” He whispered, nudging Phil’s shoulder.

Phil took in a deep breath, moving away slightly so Dan couldn’t nudge him again. “Yeah, fine, why?”

“Uh, because you’ve been staring at your coffee since I came down here. Is there a bug in it or something?”

“Nope, no bugs,” he replied, forcing himself to look away from the cup. He decided to stare at the TV now instead.

“Um, would you like for me to turn it on?” Dan asked sarcastically. 

“Turn what on?”

“Th- The TV, you panini head. Why are you acting so weird?”

Phil shook his head. “I’m not,” he said, standing up. “I need more coffee. You need anything?”

Dan looked down at his lap, confused about what was going on. “No,” he replied simply, trying to hide the hurt in his voice. If there was one thing he was not expecting after a night like they had, it was this. 

_ Maybe I was too pushy. _

_ I thought we had a good night. _

_ I thought we could become something more. _

_ Maybe he regrets everything. _

 

Phil was standing on the alligator deck, throwing bits of food into the water, waiting for a gator to come and eat some.

“These are the laziest alligators I’ve ever seen,” Dan said as he came up behind Phil, startling him. “None of them on the other side wanted any food either.”

“Guess they get enough throughout the day,” Phil said, dumping the rest of his food into the water and walking off.

Dan sighed and rolled his eyes, but followed behind him. “Your family is going to do the zipline thing. Did you wanna go?”

“Nah,” Phil replied, shaking his head. 

“Okay. Well, I was going to go back to the bird exhibit. You want to come?”

“No, I’m good.”

Now Dan was getting irritated. “So, you’re just going to stand on this deck all day, staring out at sleeping alligators?”

Phil shrugged. 

Dan took a deep breath, crossing his arms as he leaned against the railing to be able to see Phil’s face better. “How’s your dick, Phil?” He asked point blank, not caring that there was another family walking nearby. They didn’t seem to know who the boys were, so they were safe.

Phil’s eyes widened and, for the first time that day, he looked at Dan. “Dan, what the hell?”

“Well, you’re acting like a massive one so I just thought I’d ask.”

“Dan-”

“I mean, the least you could do is tell me that you don’t want to do this,” Dan said, motioning between them. He noticed them getting glances from the other family, so he lowered his tone. “I’m not a baby, although  _ you _ might be seeing as how this day has been going.”

“Dan-”

“We’ve been friends for eight fucking years, Phil, and you choose this moment to start giving me some sort of silent treatment shit? Like, what the fuck, Phil? I had your fucking cum in my mouth last night and you seemed fine with that, but actually  _ talking _  to me is too difficult for you?”

“D-”

“Don’t, Phil. I don’t want to hear what you have to say right now, cause you’d only be saying it because you feel like you have to. I’m going to go find your family and risk my life ziplining over some damn crocodiles before I decide to shove you over into the alligator lake.”

Before Phil could get in a word, Dan had left.

 

When they got back to the condo that afternoon, Dan went upstairs right away to take a shower. 

Since Phil still wouldn’t be able to talk to him for a while, he decided to go sit on the beach for a bit.

He had only been sitting for a minute when someone plopped down beside him.

“Hey,” Martyn greeted with a smile. 

“Hey. What are you doing?”

“Same thing you are,” Martyn replied with a laugh, looking out at the water.

“You’re sitting very close to me,” Phil said, taking note of the barely four inches of space between them.

“Okay, maybe I wanted to talk too and I don’t want anyone else to hear.”

“Oh,” Phil replied with a nod, looking around at the other people on the beach. None of them were too close by, but Phil appreciated the gesture anyway. 

“What’s the matter with you?” Martyn asked, getting straight to the point. “You’ve been acting weird again today.”

Phil hadn’t planned on actually opening up to Martyn. In fact, he hadn’t even thought of that as an option. But, Martyn was there now and he was a safe person to talk to, and maybe he wouldn’t be able to provide the best advice, but he could listen.

And Phil really needed someone to listen.

“I think I messed everything up,” Phil admitted, pulling his knees up close to his chest and wrapping his arms around them.

“What do you mean?”

“With Dan. I may have, um… I may have lied to everyone about the exact status of our relationship.”

“I knew it!” Martyn said, shaking his head. “Cornelia owes me twenty pounds.”

“What? You knew?” Phil said, looking over at Martyn with wide eyes.

Martyn shrugged. “I thought maybe. I wasn’t sure though. Sometimes you two were pretty convincing. That proposal story was crap though.”

Phil couldn’t help but laugh at the memory of that story. It made his heart ache too, though, because it was such a simpler time. 

“I just- Mum kept asking when I was going to find somebody and I wasn’t ever even looking for anybody, so I told her that Dan and I were together, and-”

“Whoa, slow down,” Martyn interrupted. “I think I get that part anyway. It’s kinda cool Dan was okay with that though. Not too many people would be.”

“It’s because Dan is perfect and he’s the best friend anyone could ask for, and now I’ve messed it all up.”

“What did you mess up?”

“It was supposed to be a game,” Phil started, stretching his legs back out. “We were just messing around with each other and trying to embarrass each other by seeing how far we could take things. A kiss on the cheek, pet names, holding hands.”

“Dangerous game,” Martyn said, and God if he only knew.

“When we kissed under that tree, that was our first time ever kissing. Then I kissed him on the beach. Then we kissed in bed. Th-”

“Whoa, whoa! I feel like you’re skipping over a ton of stuff. How’d you get to that point?”

“I don’t know!” Phil exclaimed, throwing his hands up in confusion. “It was just so easy to kiss him, and fun, and I never wanted to stop. So, that’s what we’d do. But I think I ruined our friendship and, yeah, maybe I want more than that but it’s not worth losing him as a friend.”

Martyn sighed. This was a lot of information to get at once. “Well, friends have kissed before and they still remain friends.”

“Friends don’t do what we did last night,” Phil replied before he could stop himself.

“Wha- oh… Oh!” Martyn looked out to the water, then back at Phil. “What’d you do?”

“Martyn!”

“Just wondering! I mean, some light groping could even be redeemable.”

“We’re far past redeemable.”

Martyn groaned. “So you are together! Now I owe Cornelia twenty pounds.”

“Martyn, that’s not the point! And we aren’t together!”

“Okay, okay,” Martyn said, putting his hands up in surrender. “Can I just say something though?”

“What?”

“I mean, you said that you weren’t looking for anyone else, right? Like, all the times Mum asked about your love life or whatever?”

“Yeah.”

“Why weren’t you looking?”

Phil shook his head. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re thirty years old. You’re someone who has talked about wanting kids, and a house, and a dog one day, and you haven’t even been trying to find someone?”

“I- I don’t know,” Phil replied, suddenly feeling nervous about the question. “I guess I just… I never…” He didn’t know how to say it without feeling like an idiot.

“You never wanted anyone else?” Martyn finished for him.

“That sounds so cheesy,” Phil groaned, putting his head in his hands.

Martyn laughed. “It’s very cheesy, but it’s true, isn’t it?”

Phil sighed. “Yeah, I- I guess so.”

“So, maybe you two  _ have  _ been dating for eight years and you just didn’t know it.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“Well, have you seen Dan make any effort to find someone for himself over the past eight years?”

Phil thought for a moment. “No, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

“The other night,” Martyn said, crossing his legs to get a bit more comfy, “You were getting a shower and Cornelia, Dan, and I were all sitting in the living room talking about dogs. He said that you two had planned to get a Shiba Inu/Corgi mix and had a list of names written down to choose from. Is that true, or was it part of your game?”

Phil smiled slightly at the memory of that night. They were sitting on the couch, eating dinner, just talking because they couldn’t decide on anything to watch. “That was true,” Phil admitted. 

Martyn nodded. “I think you two have been planning your future all along, but you’ve both been ignorant, little doofuses about it the whole time.”

“You’re so kind,” Phil joked.

“I’m honest,” Martyn replied. 

Phil looked back at the condo. “I’m gonna go talk to Dan,” he said, getting up and wiping the sand from his pants.

“You’re welcome, by the way!” Martyn said with a smile.

Phil groaned. “Thank you, Martyn.”

“Oh, don’t mention it!”

 

“Dan?” Phil called out as he made his way upstairs. “Dan?”

“Phil, is that you?” Kathryn asked, coming out of her room.

“Yeah, Mum!” Phil replied. “Where is Dan at? I need to speak with him.”

“He left, Dear,” Kathryn said, meeting Phil at the bottom of the staircase. 

“What do you mean?”

“He said he wanted to go sightseeing by himself for a bit. Said he’d be back in a while. Is something the matter?”

“Did he tell you where he went?”

“No, he didn’t. What’s wrong, Phil?”

Phil bit at his bottom lip. “It’s nothing, I just need to talk to him about something. I’m going to go see if he’s downtown somewhere.”

“Do you need us to drive you?”

Phil shook his head as he headed for the door. “No, thank you, Mum, I’ll get a car. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

 

It wasn’t until Phil was in the back of an Uber, staring down at five unanswered calls to Dan, his driver taking him “just anywhere downtown,” that Phil remembered he and Dan had trackers for each other on their phone.

It was a safety precaution they decided on a few years ago when Dan went to the store and didn’t get home for three hours. He had been met by a very large crowd of fans outside of the store and hadn’t been able to call Phil and explain why he was going to be late. Phil must’ve been incredibly panicked when Dan finally got home, because Dan downloaded the app onto their phones that night.

Phil opened up the app and waited for it to load. When it did, he zoomed in on the location. “Excuse me?” He said to the driver.

“Yes?”

“What is Mission Nombre de Dios?”

“That’s a church in uptown. It’s where the big cross is at.”

Dan was at a church? A church? An actual  _ church _ ? 

Phil had really messed up.

“Um, can we go there, please?”

“Sure!”

 

Fifteen minutes later, Phil was being dropped off in front of the church. He remembered it now, from the stops the trolley had made. 

It was more than just a church. There were acres of beautiful land that led out to a river, one of the biggest monuments Phil had ever seen, and an old cemetery. 

Phil walked around for a while, unsure of exactly where Dan was, until he saw someone in an oversized sweater rocking back and forth on a bench swing.

He walked up to the bench slowly, but made enough noise so that Dan would know someone was there. 

When he reached the bench, he sat down. He knew Dan knew it was him, even though Dan made no effort to look in his direction.

“I have to say, this is the last place I expected you to be,” Phil began.

“I wanted some place quiet,” Dan replied, his voice soft. He had obviously been in deep thought. “This is where the driver brought me.”

Phil nodded. “It’s pretty here.”

“Yeah.”

Phil took a deep breath. “Dan, I really need to talk to you.”

“It’s okay, Phil. I get it.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I mean, we’re better as friends anyway. That’s what we’ve always been. It’s what we’ll always be.” Dan looked over at him and forced a smile on his face. “I just don’t want to lose you as a friend, Phil. And I’m afraid that’s what last night did.”

Phil shook his head. “No. No, Dan, you could never lose me. I- I was afraid I’d lost you, honestly.”

“Can’t get rid of me that easy, Lester.”

Phil smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “D-”

“It was probably just the Florida humidity anyway,” Dan said with a laugh. “Makes people do crazy things.”

“Bu-”

“I just don’t like days like today. I don’t like when you won’t talk to me, or look at me.”

“I’m sorry, Dan,” Phil said. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“It’s okay. We’re okay now though, right? We can go back to being just friends?”

Phil let out a deep breath. “Um, yeah. Yeah, sure.” 

Dan nodded. “Okay.”

Phil sat beside him for a moment, until he felt like his head was going to explode. “I’m gonna go,” he said, standing up.

“Alright. I’ll head back in a bit.”

Phil started to leave. He walked away from the bench and toward the parking lot, but then he stopped. He turned around and practically marched back to the bench. 

“I don’t want that!” He exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips.

Dan jumped, quickly wiping at his eyes. “What?” He asked.

“The friend thing.”

“You  _ don’t  _ want to be my friend?”

“I do want to be your friend, but I don’t _just_ want to be your friend. Do you really just want to be my friend?”

“Well, no, but I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“You never let me say what I wanted!”

“You’re a big boy, Phil, you could have said what you wanted!”

“Not when you talk over me all the time, I can’t!”

Dan rolled his eyes. “I didn’t talk over you all the time!”

“You did every time I went to say something important!”

“Are we really arguing about the fact that we agree we want to be more than friends?”

“I think so!” Phil replied, crossing his arms over his chest as he sat back down beside Dan.

Dan stared at him. “You really want to be more than friends?”

“I really do,” Phil said, meeting Dan’s stare.

“Thank fuck. I really want to kiss you right now.”

Phil smiled and held his hand out between them. There were people around, but they wouldn’t be able to notice the two holding hands. “This will have to do,” he said as Dan wrapped his hand around Phil’s.

“Why were you so upset today then? I thought it was because I took things too far last night.”

“No, it was because I knew you wanted to talk before things went any further, and I wanted that too, but then I got so caught up in the moment that, well, you know…”

“Yeah, but I was the one who told you to keep going. I wanted it- I wanted  _ you,  _ Phil,” Dan replied, his cheeks blushing.

Phil squeezed his hand. “I wanted you too.”

“Okay, so, what now?” Dan asked. “Do I have to stop calling you a dildo, cause that will really bum me out?”

Phil laughed. “No, you don’t have to stop. Martyn, um, actually said something to me earlier that kind of made sense.”

“What’s that?”

"Well, we plan our future all the time together. We have what kind of dog we want picked out already, and the names narrowed down. We’ve already planned on buying a house together. He said we’ve basically been dating for eight years without realizing it.”

Dan looked out at the water in front of them. “I guess that is true,” he said, realization hitting him. “God, we’ve been so stupid!”

Phil laughed. “Yes, we have.”

“We could have been having sex this whole time!”

“That’s your first thought?!”

“Well, we did everything else but that, apparently! And the sex is good! It was good, right?” He asked, turning back to Phil.

Now it was Phil’s turn to blush. “Yes, it was good.”

“Yeah, we definitely have to catch up on that.”

“Okay, I think we need to go,” Phil said, pulling Dan up from the bench. “We’ve sinned multiple times now and I swear the cross is growing.”

“Oh, come one, Phil,” Dan replied, letting go of Phil’s hand as they walked toward the entrance of the grounds, “It was obviously God that brought us together. He wanted the gayness to happen here.”

“Okay, we’re definitely going to get struck by lightning,” Phil said, pulling on Dan’s sweater. “Oh, there’s a Dairy Queen across the street! Let’s go.”

“Hold on,” Dan said. He grabbed onto Phil’s arm and led them to the side of the church building, where no one could see them. 

“What are we doing?” Phil asked as his back hit up against the wall.

Dan leaned in and kissed him. It was soft and short, but it was sweeter than any kiss they’d shared before.

“Oh,” Phil said as they parted, his eyes slowly opening. “Okay, I like that.”

Dan bit at his bottom lip, not moving out of Phil’s space, but not saying anything either.

“What’s the matter?” Phil asked.

“I, um, it’s- I just… I know technically we just started being, well,  _ this _ , but, like you said, we’ve basically been together for eight years, and you know this already cause we’ve said it like, platonically before, but-”

Phil cut him off with another kiss, smiling into it. “Hey, Dan?” He said as he pulled away.

“Yeah?”

“I love you too.”

Dan smiled. “Yeah. Okay, that’s good. Ice cream?”

Phil nodded. “Ice cream.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this turned out okay! It turned out a lot longer than I expected, but I didn't want to break it into two chapters.
> 
> Alligator Farm: https://www.alligatorfarm.com/attractions-exhibits/  
> Mission Nombre de Dios and The Cross: http://missionandshrine.org/  
> The grounds are absolutely beautiful, even if you're not a religious person. It's a great place to go sit when you need to clear your head. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and commenting!  
> Tumblr: softgolftechniques


	14. Treasure

**Day Sixteen**

 

“So you weren’t together?” Kathryn asked, extremely confused.

Phil nodded. “Right.”

“But now you are?” Nigel questioned.

“Right.”

Kathryn leaned forward in her chair. “And you’re saying that even though you weren’t really together, you were _basically_ together, you just didn’t realize it?”

“Correct.”

“And you realized this after you spoke to Martyn?”

“Yes.”

Nigel looked back and forth at the boys for a moment. “And you’re not engaged?” He asked.

“No,” Dan replied, speaking for the first time since he and Phil sat down to come clean.

It had been Phil’s idea, bringing it up as they laid in bed the night before. He wanted to be honest with his family so they could all have a fresh start and not have to worry about the lies.

Kathryn shook her head, “And you have actually planned a future together?”

“Well, we’ve talked about what kind of house we’d like to buy, and what kind of dog we’d like to get. We did all of that before we became, well, this,” Phil finished, looking over at Dan and giving him a reassuring smile.

Dan took a deep breath. “We know this is weird. It’s a pretty unusual story, but it is the truth this time. Promise.”

Kathryn smiled at him. “We believe you, Dear. You however,” she added, pointing at Phil, her smile dropping, “Shouldn’t have lied to us. There was no reason for that.”

Phil sighed. “I know, Mum. I’m sorry.”

“Yes, well, now that this is all settled,” Nigel said, standing up, “Let’s go exploring.”

As the rest of the family got up to get ready to go, Cornelia tugged on Martyn's sleeve, “Hey,” she said, “Why didn’t you tell me this last night? You owe me twenty pounds.”

“No, you owe me!” He exclaimed.

“I do not. They were together.”

“Technically, they weren’t when we made the bet.”

“They said they’ve pretty much been together for eight years. In fact, _you_ were the one who helped them draw that conclusion.”

“Well, maybe, but-”

“What are you two talking about?” Phil asked as he walked back into the living room with his shoes in his hands, sitting down to put them on.

“Martyn owing me money,” Cornelia replied.

“Oh, is this about that bet?” Dan asked, coming in and sitting beside Phil. “Phil told me about it last night.”

“Yes, it is,” Martyn replied, “And she owes me.”

“No, you owe her,” Phil replied simply.

Dan nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you definitely do.”

“Ugh!” Martyn rolled his eyes as Cornelia laughed.

“I will be expecting payment within the next week,” she said, patting his chest as she walked by him and left the room.

 

When they got to the Pirate and Treasure Museum, they were all given a piece of paper and a pencil, and told that they could go on a hunt. If they found each number and wrote in the proper information for the questions asked, they’d get a prize at the end.

Dan couldn’t help but laugh at the way Phil’s eyes lit up when he heard a prize was involved.

“I swear, you’re an eternal child,” he said as they all headed into the museum.

“I can’t help it!” Phil replied, smiling. “You know you’re excited to get a prize too!”

“Oh, I’m thrilled.”

“Come on,” Phil said, poking at Dan’s side. “Come on, you know you’re excited. Admit it.”

“Stop poking me.”

“Admit excitement and I will.”

Dan laughed, swatting Phil’s hand away. “Fine, you freak, I want the prize too. Now stop poking and start searching.”

 

The whole family helped each other out with the hunt, stopping along the way to check out all the other information and treasures.

After walking around for awhile, they reached a room that had replicas of cannons in it.

“Oh, Dan’s favorite!” Phil joked, walking over to them.

“Oh my God, the bloody cannons!”

“You can set this one off yourself, Dan!” Phil exclaimed, picking up a stick. “You hold this up to the light on the cannon and it will fire.”

“Are you kidding me? Are you actually serious?” Dan asked as he walked over to Phil.

“Yes, and you have to do it!” Phil replied, pulling out his phone. “I’m going to record it.”

As Phil began recording, Dan picked up the stick. He stared at it for a moment, then started to move it toward the light on the cannon. “I don’t want to hear the fucking noise!” He exclaimed, laughing.

“You have to do it, Dan! It’s your destiny!”

“Oh, shut up!” Dan said, his face scrunching up as he put the stick up to the light. It took a few seconds, then a loud boom sounded through the room.

“Oh my God!” Dan exclaimed, dropping the stick and backing away. “I hate these stupid cannons!”

Phil laughed, then walked up closer to Dan to zoom in on his face. “Try new things!” He said.

Dan rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling brightly. “Yeah, try new things. Fire frickin’ cannons!”

Phil stopped recording and put his phone back in his pocket. “That’s definitely lessamazingphil material.”

“Whatever. I’m leaving you and returning to your family,” Dan said, beginning to walk away.

“No, Danny, don’t leave me behind,” Phil joked, “I’ll get blown away by the cannon fire!”

“You deserve it!”

 

“Guys, come over here! We’re all going in this theater room!” Kathryn yelled, getting the kids attention.

They all started to make their way over.

“What is it?” Cornelia asked.

“Apparently we put on headphones and listen to a show,” Nigel replied.

They walked into the little theater, which looked like a miniature boat with a bench that went all the way around the wall. There were about twelve different headsets, and they each put one on. A few other people were in the room, so almost every space was taken.

After a few seconds, the light went off, leaving the room pitch black.

Dan’s heart started to race a bit. He wasn’t a big fan of the dark, and he couldn’t hear anything because of the headphones.

He started to fidget in his seat, becoming anxious, when a hand touched his thigh.

Once he realized it was Phil, he grabbed his hand and held onto it tight.

As voices began to sound through the headphones, Phil squeezed Dan’s hand reassuringly. Dan took a deep breath and settled back in his seat, scooting slightly closer to Phil so their legs were touching.

It was nice to be like this. Even though they were in a dark room where no one could see, they were getting to act like a normal couple for a minute.

Phil began rubbing his thumb back and forth over Dan’s hand. The kind, calming gesture gave Dan chills. He wasn’t able to pay much attention to the show going on in his ears after that.

 

“It was a good day,” Phil said that night as they laid in bed. Dan was on his back, staring up at the ceiling, a thin layer of sweat still on his forehead. Phil was on his side, curled up beside Dan, a hand resting on Dan’s stomach.

“Yeah, it was,” Dan replied. His voice was softer than usual. It made Phil wonder if that’s how he always sounded after, um, _physical activities._ Phil then thought about how he sounded like such an idiot because he was thirty and he should be able to think of the word _se_ _x._

"The prize was lame though."

Dan laughed. "I was waiting for that!"

"A coin! It was just a plastic coin!"

"Because it's usually five year old's that get the prizes, Phil, not adults!"

"Still. That was a tough treasure hunt and I thought I'd get something useful from it."

"Poor, Philly," Dan replied, only slightly mocking him. "I'll get you a special prize before we leave, how about that?"

"You don't have to," Phil replied with a sigh. "But I wouldn't object if you did."

Dan rubbed his hand over Phil's arm. "You're such a dingus," he said, somehow able to make the insult sound affectionate.

They were both silent for awhile, just listening to the sounds of the ocean outside their window.

Phil leaned over and kissed Dan’s shoulder. “I think we should do a Day in the Life video tomorrow.”

“Really?” Dan asked, looking over at Phil.

“Yeah. Mum and Dad want to stay here tomorrow, and I think Martyn and Cornelia do too. We could go out sightseeing together and film.”

“That actually sounds like fun,” Dan replied.

“Good.” Phil yawned as he tucked his head closer to Dan’s side. “G’night, Dan. Love you.”

Dan turned on his side, moving around so he could drape an arm over Phil’s waist. Phil curled his arm around Dan’s back, rubbing up and down a few times, the motion fading as he began to drift off.

Dan leaned over and kissed Phil’s forehead. “Love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought I'd give us a fluffy chapter since the last one was pretty intense! Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Thank you for the comments on the last chapter! It was so long and I was worried it wouldn't turn out okay, but you guys were so kind!
> 
> tumblr: softgolftechniques
> 
> St. Augustine Pirate and Treasure Museum: http://thepiratemuseum.com/


	15. Happy

**Day Seventeen**

 

Phil sat against the headboard and picked up his phone. Dan was already downstairs, so Phil was able to start his video now.

He yawned as he adjusted his glasses, then opened his camera and started to record. “Hey, guys! It’s just after eleven here in Florida, and I figured I’d film a little Day in the Life video for you while I’m on vacation with Dan and my family. My family’s going to be spending the day at the beach- I think they’re there already- but Dan and I are going to head downtown and have a tourist day with you guys.”

Phil stopped recording and got out of bed. He went into the bathroom and put his contacts in, then started recording again as he headed downstairs.

“I think I heard Dan get up,” Phil said, knowing that Dan had gotten out of bed five minutes before Phil started to film. “So let’s go see what he’s up to!”

“You motherfucker!” Dan yelled from the kitchen. Phil laughed as he walked into the room, turning the camera view around to face Dan. 

“What?” Phil asked.

“You know what you did!” Dan replied, pointing at Phil.

“I needed a snack last night!” Phil defended. 

“What time did you come downstairs and eat my cereal?” He asked, putting his hands on his hips.

“Um, it might’ve been around two o’clock?”

“Philip Lester, I’m going to murder you.”

“Well, say hi to everyone first,” Phil replied, moving closer to Dan with the camera.

“Hello, everybody,” Dan said, giving the camera an evil smile. “Enjoy this time with Phil because it’s his last day on earth!”

“Hey, don’t murder me!” Phil said with a pout. “I’ll buy you more cereal.”

Dan sighed. “Oh, alright. You’d have to come back as a ghost if I killed you anyway, cause I’d be too lonely.”

“Aw! That was the cheesiest thing you’ve ever said,” Phil replied, knowing he’d probably have to cut that part out.

Dan shot a bird at the camera as he made his way over to the fridge to find something to eat.

Phil laughed, then turned the camera back on himself. “Alright, I’m going to go eat breakfast. We will see you downtown!”

 

Phil turned the camera back on once they exited the Uber at the main stop for the trolley. “Okay, so we’re about to get on the trolley and be taken around town.”

“We’re in Saint Augustine, by the way,” Dan chimed in, coming into frame.

“Oh, yeah! We’re in Saint Augustine, and we’re going to get on the trolley and we’ll take you guys on a few stops with us. I think our first stop is going to be the wooden schoolhouse.” 

Phil put his phone down as the trolley arrived, and they both headed to the back to get on a bench alone. “It’ll be kind of hard to talk on here,” Phil said, putting the camera back up to their faces, “Because they talk about the history of the place while they drive, but we’ll see you guys when we get there!”

 

When they finally got to the schoolhouse, Phil pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned the camera on. “So, we’re in the schoolhouse now, and what is it we’re looking at Dan?”

He turned the view around to Dan, who was laughing as he stared at a mannequin behind a glass wall. “Apparently, this is where they kept naughty children back in the day,” he said, motioning to the mannequin. 

“They just shoved them behind an enclosure?” Phil questioned.

“Yes! That’s what it says. They’d be put in this separate room to stop them from bothering the other children. What the fuck?!”

“Can you imagine how hot that would be? No air conditioning, stuck in this tiny space?”

“I never would have come to school,” Dan replied, his voice going higher as he spoke.

“Suddenly, my school years don’t seem so terrible,” Phil said, turning the camera back to him.

 

They looked around for a bit without the camera, just enjoying each other’s company. Phil didn’t turn the camera back on until they were taking a boat tour down the river.

“This is so beautiful!” Phil said, videoing the view. “I don’t want to get too close to the edge or my phone might go in the water, but look at that!”

“Oh God, I’d die, Phil!” Dan exclaimed from beside him. “Take another step back, please.”

“Okay, okay,” Phil replied, laughing. “I’m back far enough now.” He turned the camera toward them so they could talk. “We decided to go on this boat tour after we heard some people talking about it, and it really is beautiful! You can see so much of the town from here, and we’ve seen some turtles in the water-”

“And jellyfish,” Dan added.

“Yes, and jellyfish. It’s pretty windy up here at the top of the boat, so we’ve got it all to ourselves, which is nice.”

“Yeah, we joined the tour with a bunch of senior citizens, who don’t like wind very much, so we’re the only one’s up here!” Dan replied, smiling widely.

Phil looked over at Dan, and he couldn’t help but lean over and give him a kiss on the cheek when he saw just how cute his dimple looked right now.

“Hey, you’re giving yourself more to edit!” Dan joked, but his cheeks were turning a rosy red.

“I don’t care. We don’t have to worry about other people up here.”

“Then turn the camera off,” Dan replied, moving behind Phil and wrapping his arms around his waist, resting his chin on Phil’s shoulder. “And let’s just be a couple.”

Phil smiled into the camera, then turned it off. Dan was right, this needed to be a moment just for themselves.

 

The boat tour was just over an hour, and it was nearing four o’clock when they finished.

Once they were back on the trolley, Phil got his phone out. “I think we’re going to go to the jail next, right?” Phil asked, looking over at Dan for confirmation.

“Yeah, I think so. It closes in forty-five minutes, so we’ll make it for the last tour.”

“The boat tour was nice, wasn’t it?” Phil asked.

“Yeah, it was lovely. We couldn’t film too much because we had the biggest fear of Phil’s phone falling into the water,” he lied. Although that did concern them, it definitely was not the reason for the lack of footage.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I would have jumped overboard to get it, and that wouldn’t have been good.”

“I would have paid extra to see that,” Dan admitted.

“Hey! You wouldn’t jump in right behind me to help?”

“And ruin my jeans? No way.”

Phil turned the camera so just he was in view. “Wow, what a great friend!”

 

Something they did not know the jail tour included was audience participation. So, when Dan was called up to go and stand in a “human bird cage,” he wasn’t exactly thrilled.

Phil, however, could not stop laughing. He quickly began recording as Dan was led to the giant cage and locked inside.

“Now, this was used as a form of punishment,” the guide, who was dressed in jail attire, explained. “Prisoners would be brought out to the cage, forced to stand in the deadly hot sun all day, and often left overnight as well. They would be left with severe sunburns or, during stormy season, they would get sick from being left out in the rain. Is it fun in there?” She asked Dan.

“Not particularly,” he replied as Phil zoomed in on the glare on his face.

“Well, we’ll let you out. If you’d like, you can join me over here at the whipping station. Would you like to be whipped?”

“Not here,” Dan joked before he could stop himself.

A few of the other visitors laughed and the tour guide blushed. “Oh, dear. Well, we’ve got children present so I’ll let parents explain that one later. Thank you helper Dan!”

Dan returned to Phil’s side. “How was that, helper Dan?”

“Shut up!” Dan exclaimed. “I didn’t come here to be bullied!”

“Oh, poor Danny!” Phil replied, letting Dan give one last glare to the camera before turning it off.

 

They didn’t turn the camera back on until the tour was over. Phil couldn’t stop laughing, so Dan held up the phone for them.

“So, this is what it’s really like to be Phil’s friend,” he said, making sure everyone could see Phil laughing beside him. “He bullies you and laughs at you and mocks your pain.”

“I’m sorry!” Phil exclaimed, coughing from laughing too much. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect that you’d have to participate the entire time.”

“She made me do everything!” Dan whined. “I was the only one who had to participate!”

“We didn’t know that they pick one person out of each group to help along the way. Dan got the honors.”

“Because I was the tallest one there! That was her reason.”

“I think she had a crush on you.”

“Well then we should have started making out or something.  _ Anything _ to end my suffering.”

“So you only want kisses now when they prevent audience participation?”

“Yes, that’s the only time.”

“I’ll make a mental note.”

 

“This place is so weird,” Phil whispered, holding the camera phone down on the table so they didn’t draw attention.

“We’re eating in a pool,” Dan said, looking around to make sure no one was staring at them.

“We can’t just say we’re eating in a pool, Dan, they’ll think we're sitting in water.”

“Okay, well it used to be a pool.”

“Yeah, apparently it was a pool a really long time ago but now it’s a restaurant and it’s a really quiet restaurant.”

“What’s it called? Alcazar?”

“Yeah. It’s actually really nice, and it’s not usually open for dinner, but this is like the one night a week when it is.”

Dan pointed to his left. “Someone’s playing piano in the corner, which you think would make people talk above a whisper, but no! Silence!”

“Oh, Dan, you should take over and start playing! I bet you’d get more tips than that man.”

“Yes, Phil, I’ll knock the professional player off of his seat and just take over. I’m sure everyone would love that.”

“I would!”

Dan rolled his eyes. “You’re such a dork.”

“Oh, we have to go, a man keeps staring at us! He doesn’t look happy.”

“Our whisper isn’t whispery enough! Oh no!”

 

“It’s almost six o’clock, and the trolley’s have stopped, and for some godforsaken reason we decided to walk to the giant cross!” Dan whined, wiping the sweat from his head with his free hand. “Why did we decide to do this, Phil?”

“You know why, Daniel! We’re getting close!”

“I’m dying.”

“You are not! Come on!”

Dan followed Phil back toward the cross, until they reached a very familiar bench. “We can sit down here,” Phil said, looking back at Dan with a smile.

“This looks like a nice spot,” Dan replied. “Pretty view.”

“And big cross.”

“Very big,” Dan replied, slowly panning up the cross. “So it can judge us all from miles away.”

“I just figured this would be a good spot to end our video,” Phil said, ignoring Dan’s comment.

“Why’s that?” Dan asked cheekily, turning the camera toward Phil.

“Okay, I’m going to have to edit this whole part out, but I really just wanted our spot to be in the video forever. And then, once we end the video, I wanted us to sit here until the sun set and we got kicked out.”

Dan stared at Phil for a moment, then put the phone down and leaned over, placing a hand on Phil’s cheek and giving him a kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Dan picked the phone back up. “Alright, dingus, let’s end this motherfucker!” He exclaimed, zooming in on Phil’s face.

Phil laughed. “Well make it so they can see us both!”

Dan did, then Phil smiled into the camera. “Thank you guys for coming along with us today! We had a lot of fun!”

“What was your favorite part?” Dan asked, looking over at Phil.

“Um, I think the boat tour. Or maybe watching you slowly wish for death throughout the jail tour? I can’t decide!”

“Rude! My favorite was the child shoved into a tiny room of a schoolhouse.”

“Figures. Anyway, thanks for watching. You can go to Dan’s channel over there, subscribe to me here, and right in the middle is our gaming channel that everyone needs to check out.”

“Yes! Goodbye everyone!”

“Bye guys!”

Dan turned off the camera and handed Phil his phone. Phil put it in his pocket and reached out a hand for Dan to take. The place was nearly empty, and no one was around them, so they knew they were safe.

“Now, for the real end to the night,” he said, squeezing Dan’s hand gently.

Dan glanced over at him and smiled. He didn’t know it was possible to be this happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're almost done, guys! I'll be so sad when this story is over! I've already got another one in my head though, so hopefully you'll join me for that (it's quite a bit different from this one though).
> 
> Here's the list of places the boys went:  
> Old Jail: https://www.visitstaugustine.com/thing-to-do/old-jail  
> Cafe Alcazar: http://thealcazarcafe.com/cafe-alcazar  
> Boat Tour: https://www.scenic-cruise.com/  
> Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse: https://www.visitstaugustine.com/thing-to-do/oldest-wooden-school-house (you can see the child behind the glass in the third picture under the description)  
> And you already know the cross!
> 
> Thank you for reading and commenting!  
> tumblr: softgolftechniques


	16. Ghost

**Day Eighteen**

 

“You’re going to burn.”

“I won’t stay out long.”

“I told you to bring the sunscreen.”

“Dan, I’ll be fine. We won’t stay longer than an hour.”

Dan rolled his eyes. “It takes you ten minutes to turn into a lobster.”

“No, it doesn’t! Not really.”

“You should’ve put the sunscreen on before we left, like I did.”

“I didn’t do that because I was going to bring it with us,” Phil said.

“Yes, but you didn’t bring it,” Dan reminded him.

Phil sighed. “I know.”

Dan looked back toward their condo. “I can just run back and get some. It’s not like it’s that far.”

Dan went to get up, but Phil grabbed onto his arm, stopping him. “Dan, it will be fine. We’ll only stay out here for half an hour. How’s that?”

“Your funeral,” Dan said, straightening out the end of his towel before laying down.

 

“Ow!”

“I told you, Dummy!”

“I didn’t think we’d both fall asleep.”

“It was very relaxing.”

Phil flinched as Dan rubbed more aloe onto his back. They were up in their room, where Phil could hide his embarrassingly red body from the rest of the family. “Ouch!” He exclaimed, flinching when Dan’s hand would be a bit too rough.

“Oh hush. You’re fine.”

“It feels like you’re rubbing my skin off.”

“Oh, we could recreate that fic-”

“No!” Phil said, cutting him off. “Just be gentle.”

“I am, I am. Maybe next time you’ll listen to me when I tell you to put sunscreen on.”

“I will.”

“Or when I tell you not to forget to bring it to the beach with us.”

“I will.”

“Or when I tell you I’ll go back to the condo and get the sunscreen for you.”

Phil twisted his head so he could glare at Dan. “I will,” he grumbled. 

“Good boy. Now let daddy Danny take care of you.”

“I think some vomit just came up in my mouth,” Phil replied, laying his head back down and closing his eyes.

Dan laughed. He put a little bit more aloe on his hands to rub onto Phil’s shoulders. “At least it’s only on your back. Your front side still looks human.”

“I guess I was lucky that my arm was covering my face.”

“Look at us!” Dan said, smiling. “Being all optimistic! We’ll have to stop soon or my branding will be fucking ruined.”

 

Although he was still in pain, there was no way Phil was going to miss going out with his family tonight. They were going on a ghost tour, and Phil could not have been more excited.

“Okay, does everyone have their EMF meters?” The tour guide asked.

After the whole group responded with a yes, she led them toward the train. “Welcome aboard the Ripley’s Ghost Train! Tonight we will be taking you all on an adventure you will never forget.”

Everyone boarded the train, then the tour guide got on and continued to speak as the driver made their way to the first stop.

“If your EMF meter spikes up to the red, that means a spirit is near. We’ll discuss them more when we get to our first stop. Until then, sit back, relax, enjoy the ride, and remember to take lots of pictures!”

“Phil, are you a spirit?” Dan asked, holding the meter close to his face. The meter flashed to a yellow color before going back down to green. “Oh my God! You’re half ghost!”

“I wonder what kind of ghost,” Phil asked with a dramatic gasp. 

“Probably a lobster ghost,” Dan replied.

“Let’s check you,” Phil said, raising the meter to Dan’s face. It remained in the green. “Oh, sorry, you’re not a ghost at all.”

“That is truly unfortunate.”

“What if a ghost gets attached to us and comes home with us?” Phil asked.

“Then we’ll have to hire a priest or something. I’m not ready for that responsibility.”

“Well, we wouldn’t have to feed it or anything. We’d just have to make sure it didn’t get angry and ruin our furniture.”

“Still too much of a risk.”

Phil patted Dan’s leg as an idea popped into his mind. “It could join us in our videos! We could be a threesome.”

“Sorry, Philly, I’m a monogamist.”

Phil shook his head,  “What a shame. We could have been so happy with Ghosty Bob.”

Dan laughed. “Oh, the ghost has a name now?”

“It does! Ghosty Bob is very sad he won’t be joining us anymore.”

“Well, Ghosty Bob will just have to get over it,” Dan replied as he took Phil’s hand in his, hiding it between him.

Phil smiled, and Dan was sure he was blushing a bit too. “I’m sure he will.”

 

“This cannot be happening,” Dan mumbled as he watched the tour guide instruct little kids to start singing.

“If you sing a lullaby, sometimes the children that haunt this place will show up on the EMF meter,” she said.

Phil, and the rest of the Lesters, stuck out their meters as the children began singing.

“Oh my God,” Dan groaned, trying to sink further to the back so he wasn’t by the rest of the group.

Phil’s meter began to light up to the red. “Oh my God, they’re here!” He said to Dan.

“We’re right under power lines, Phil, that’s why they’re spiking.”

Phil put his hands on his hips, “Can’t you just support me and my hobbies?” He asked. He looked so cute that Dan wanted to kiss him right then.

He just smiled instead. “Ghost hunting is one of your hobbies now?”

“Yes, it is.”

Dan let out a dramatic sigh. “Wow. Much ghost, very scare. Can’t believe you really found one!”

Phil smiled brightly. “Thank you! I’ll ignore the sarcasm. Now take my picture with the ghost friend I’ve made.”

 

“I think I got an orb!” Phil exclaimed from his spot in bed, looking at all the photos on his phone.

“Am I allowed to say it’s dust?” Dan asked as he took off his shirt and got under the covers. “Or do I still have to be a supportive boyfriend?”

“You still have to be a supportive boyfriend,” Phil replied.

“Then that’s fucking amazing, Phil. I’m so happy for you. You need to send it in and get that shit on their website.”

“Now you’re overdoing it,” Phil informed him.

“Still learning,” Dan said with a shrug, moving close to Phil’s side. He wrapped an arm around Phil’s waist, resting his head on Phil’s arm so he could see the photos.

“Hey!” Dan exclaimed as Phil scrolled through the pictures. “Most of those are derpy pictures of me!”

Phil laughed. “I couldn’t help it! You were so uncomfortable.”

“She kept having the kids do stuff! I thought she’d call on me next.”

“Still traumatized from the jail?”

“Until the day I die.” Dan poked Phil’s side. “You’re not supporting me the way I’m supporting you, by the way,” he said dramatically.

“What am I supposed to be supporting?”

“You should have been protecting me from the tour guide instead of taking photos.”

“Oh! I’ll remember that for next time.”

“Next time?”

Phil nodded. “Yeah, they’ve got like five different kinds of ghost tours here. Every year we’ll come back and do another one.”

Dan stared up at Phil. “It scares me that I’m not sure if you’re joking.”

“I guess we’ll have to wait until next year to find out.”

Dan rolled his eyes, but resumed his position of snuggling into Phil’s side. 

Once they had looked over all of the photos, Phil set his phone on the nightstand and took off his glasses. He relaxed next to Dan, taking the hand that was wrapped around his waist and holding onto it.

"How's the sunburn?" Dan asked. "Shouldn't you be lying on your stomach?"

"It's feeling better. The coolness of the sheets feels good against it, so I think I'm good like this."

"Alright."

They were both silent for a minute, their breath slowly as sleep started to take over.

“Hey, Dan?”

“Yeah?”

“This is nice, isn’t it?”

Dan wanted to say something sarcastic in return, but he couldn’t think of a single thing. Instead, he smiled and kissed Phil’s shoulder. “Yeah, it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think we've got one more to go guys! Thank you so much for everything you've written to me! It means so much!  
> I don't know how many of you follow my other story, but I wrote on there that my sister just had a baby (a girl), so I'm an aunt times 3 now! Anyway, that's why my writing hasn't been as quick the last few days.
> 
> Thanks again!
> 
> Ripley's Ghost Tour: http://www.ghosttrainadventure.com/tour/ 
> 
> tumblr: softgolftechniques


	17. Home

**Day Nineteen**

 

Thankfully, Dan and Phil had thought to switch their flight so they left out of Jacksonville instead of Orlando, so their last full day of vacation was not spent in a car.

When they woke up, they spent a couple of hours cleaning up their room and packing their things, just so they wouldn’t have to do it in a rush the next day.

That was Phil’s idea, which Dan agreed to once Phil brought up incident after incident of Dan doing things last minute and getting into trouble because of it.

 

After taking it easy for the day, the whole family went downtown to get some dinner and dessert. They decided on Harry’s Seafood, Bar and Grille for dinner. 

After a wonderful meal, they headed toward St. George Street to walk around a bit and get some gelato.

“It’s been lovely having you here,” Kathryn said, moving close to Phil and Dan. “It’s always nice to have my children come home, but it’s even nicer when they bring the one’s they love with them.”

Dan smiled. “It’s been a lovely trip,” he replied. “Sorry for not being honest in the beginning.”

She waved her hand, brushing it off. “Darling, please. I know you were just being a good friend to Phil. He was the one who should have been honest with me,” she said, looking over at him.

“I said I was sorry,” Phil responded sheepishly. “But it _did_ bring us together, so that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“I suppose that’s true,” she replied. “But that doesn’t make it right. Don’t lie to me about any other life events, alright?”

“I won’t, Mum, I promise.”

“Good, good.”

“This is the place!” Nigel called out, getting everyone’s attention. “This is where the good gelato is supposed to be.”

They went into the little cafe and looked over all the different selections. 

Dan and Phil decided to share a mixture of cookies and cream and vanilla. “We’ve got to be the most basic people in the world,” Dan joked.

“Hey, it looked good! I wanted to swim in the vanilla.”

“Kinky,” Dan replied, wiggling his eyebrows.

Phil glared at him. “Hush and eat.”

“Yes, Sir,” Dan said with a wink.

Phil couldn’t help but laugh. “Stop it! That sounds so weird. Just eat the gelato or I’ll take it away from you forever.”

Dan smiled, and Phil tried not to stare at his dimples for too long. “Fine, I’ll stop.”

“Thank you.”

 

When they got back to the condo, Dan and Phil decided to go on an evening walk on the beach. 

“It’s nice out here,” Phil said, taking note of the lack of people. As far as they could see, they had the whole beach to themselves.

“Yeah, it is.”

Phil took Dan’s hand in his, which caused Dan took look around.

“I already checked,” Phil said, noticing Dan’s shoulders relax one he knew they were alone.

“Sorry. I don’t mean to be so jumpy.”

“It’s alright.”

Dan let out a sigh. “What are we supposed to do?” He asked. “Are we supposed to tell people?”

“Do you  _ want _ to tell people?”

Dan rubbed his thumb over Phil’s hand. “Not really,” he admitted. “Not right now. I like having our own little world.”

Phil nodded. “I like that too.”

“But will they get mad? When they do find out? Cause we can’t keep it a secret forever. Even if we never say it, they’ll figure it out.”

“I think they already figured it out way before we did,” Phil replied with a laugh.

“That’s true.”

They continued their walk in silence, enjoying the sounds of the ocean and watching the sky change colors as the sun faded away.

After a few minutes, Phil got Dan’s attention by squeezing his hand. “Is something else bothering you?” He asked, able to tell that Dan was in deep thought by the look on his face.

“It’s stupid,” Dan replied.

“What is it?”

“You’re not going to change your mind, are you?”

Phil stopped walking. “What?” He asked as Dan turned to face him.

“I told you it was stupid.”

“It’s not stupid, I’m just confused. Change my mind about what?”

“About this,” Dan said, motioning between them. “About us.”

“Why? Are you?” He asked, becoming worried.

“No! No, not at all! I just… God, I feel so fucking ridiculous.”

“I don’t care. Tell me.”

Dan rolled his eyes. “I don’t want this to be some holiday-only thing where once we’re back home you change your mind or regret it or something. Cause I can be a bit much sometimes, Phil!”

“I know you can, Dan. I’ve known you for almost a decade. And lived with you for most of that time! This isn’t some holiday-only thing for me.” Phil took a deep breath, “Do you want to know the cheesiest secret of all time?”

“Yeah.”

“For the last few nights, before I fall asleep or whenever I wake up, I think about us being back at home and I can’t wait. I want us to be able to share a bed-  _ our _ bed- not some random condo bed. And I want us to be able to go on dates and stuff. I really want that.”

Dan smiled. “You’re right. That is the cheesiest secret I’ve ever heard.”

Phil pushed lightly at Dan’s shoulder. “Shut up,” he said, taking Dan’s hand again as they started back walking. “You know I love you, right?” He asked. “I mean it.”

Dan sighed. “Yeah, I know. I love you too.”

 

**Day Twenty**

 

As they waited for their taxi to come pick them up at the condo, Dan and Phil said their goodbyes to everyone.

The rest of the family would be leaving the next day, so they were the only ones headed for the airport.

Their goodbyes to Martyn and Cornelia were short, knowing that they’d be seeing them in just a couple of weeks at a convention.

But Kathryn was giving them the longest goodbye she possibly could. 

“Dear, you’ve hugged each of them three times already,” Nigel reminded her as she went to hug Phil again.

“I don’t care. I’ll hug them as much as I please.”

“Phil and I checked our calendar and we’ve got some time off next month,” Dan said, knowing she’d be getting emotional about them leaving. “We could come to visit for a few days, if you’d like?”

Kathryn let go of Phil, moving back to Dan and wrapping him up in another hug. “Oh, that would be wonderful! Thank you, Darling!”

“It’s no problem.”

The taxi arrived then, forcing Kathryn to let go of Dan.

“Safe travels,” Nigel said, giving both Dan and Phil a quick hug. “Let us know when you get in.”

“We will,” Phil replied. “Love you guys!”

Dan put his luggage into the trunk. “Bye!” He said with a wave as he opened the car door.

“Goodbye, boys!” Kathryn replied. “Love you!”

 

“I would mark this as a successful trip,” Phil said as they sat back in their seats, waiting for the plane to take off.

“You would?” Dan asked.

Phil looked at him with raised eyebrows. “You wouldn’t?”

“Eh, I suppose,” Dan joked, shrugging.

Phil rolled his eyes, reaching over and poking Dan’s side. “I hate you.”

“Oh, I’m sure.”

“Really though, did you have fun?”

Dan nodded. “Yeah, a lot. Your family is amazing.”

“I like them,” Phil agreed.

“Yes, I know.” They both fell into a comfortable silence. Phil stared out the window while Dan looked around to see who they’d be sharing their flight with.

After a few minutes, Dan nudged Phil’s leg to get his attention. 

“Yeah?” Phil asked.

“We’ll have to go to my parents place next,” Dan said. “They’ll want to know about us and everything.”

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

“I’ll have to call my mum. Hey! Seeing as your lie actually got us together, maybe I’ll tell my parents we bought a house and a dog and see what that gets me!” He joked.

Phil smiled in return, grabbing onto Dan’s hand and holding it between them. “I guess we’ll just have to start looking then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe it's over! I'm going to miss this story so much! Thank you all for being so wonderful and encouraging!  
> If you'd like, I've got two other stories going on right now. They're both a little more dramatic than this, but you might enjoy.   
> Otherwise, I thank you again and endlessly!
> 
> tumblr: softgolftechniques (come visit me!)


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